fechel فاشل
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“fechel” (فاشل) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning useless, hopeless, incapable.
Meanings
- useless, hopeless, incapable
- failed, unsuccessful
Usage
Fechel describes a person who succeeds at nothing, or something badly done: a player, a film, a project. The word comes from Standard Arabic, but it is very common in speech and in online comments, especially about football and politics. Used on its own to address someone ("ya fechel!"), it works as a mild but quite hurtful insult. The feminine is fechla and the plural fechlin. In a neutral context, one would rather say "ma nje7ch" (he did not succeed). The corresponding noun is fachal, failure.
Example
الفيلم هذا فاشل، ما عجبنيش
el film hedha fechel, ma 3ajebnich
“This film is awful, I didn't like it.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fechel” but also “fachel”, “fashel” and “fechl”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.