doulab دولاب
Tunisian Derja · noun
“doulab” (دولاب) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning wardrobe, cupboard.
Meanings
- wardrobe, cupboard
- wheel; machinery (of the economy)
Usage
Doulab is the everyday word for the wardrobe where clothes or dishes are stored. Examples: 7otha fel doulab, "put it in the wardrobe", and doulab el 7wayej, "the clothes wardrobe". The sense of "wheel" survives mainly in figurative expressions like dawer eddoulab, "keep the machine running". It is used about work or the economy, for instance to reproach idleness. The plural is dwalib. For a built-in cupboard, placard, a borrowing from French, is also sometimes used.
Example
حطّ الحوايج في الدولاب
7ott el 7wayej fel doulab
“Put the clothes in the wardrobe.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “doulab” but also “douleb”, “dolab” and “dulab”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.