dhrab ضرب
Tunisian Derja · verb
“dhrab” (ضرب) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to hit, beat.
Meanings
- to hit, beat
- to kick
- blow, hitting (noun)
Usage
Dhrab means "to hit". It is very common and gives many expressions: dhrab bel kaff (to slap), dhrab bel 3ein (to give the evil eye), dhrab telifoun (to make a phone call). The verbal noun dharb means the act of hitting or the blows received. Online you also find the imperative odhrob, as in odhrob 3andek, a call addressed to someone you tag. Depending on the expression, the verb may therefore have no violent sense at all. The emphatic d is written "dh" or "th" in arabizi.
Example
هاذاك علاش ماهيشي رجلة كيف تضرب ولاد بلادك ,
hedheke 3lesh mehyechi rojla kif tadhrab wled bledik ,
“That's why it's not manly behaviour, when you hit the people of your own country,”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dhrab” but also “dharb”, “dhreb”, “darb” and “dhareb”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “dhrab” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to hit, to beat”; “to kick”: drab in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to hit, beat”; “to put on, play (music)”: dreb in Algerian.