fellah فلاح

Tunisian Derja · noun

“fellah” (فلاح) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning farmer, cultivator.

Meanings

1. farmer, cultivator
2. peasant, countryman

Usage

Fellah is the usual word for someone who works the land, whether owner or farm labourer. The plural is fella7a and the feminine is fella7a. The word is neutral when it names the occupation: khdem fellah (he worked as a farmer). Used to describe someone, it can take a mocking nuance: "country bumpkin", "hick", as opposed to the city dweller (beldi). Context and tone show whether the remark is pejorative. The word has been borrowed as is into French (fellah). Working the land is called fle7a.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fellah” but also “fella7”, “falle7” and “fellè7”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.

Type “fellah” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “peasant, farmer”; “country bumpkin (sometimes pejorative)”: fella7 in Moroccan.