fla7a فلاحة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“fla7a” (فلاحة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning agriculture, working the land.
Meanings
- agriculture, working the land
- farming operation
Usage
Fla7a is the everyday word for agriculture, both as an activity and as an economic sector. You say ye5dem fil fla7a ("he works in agriculture"). A farmer or peasant is fella7, plural fella7a. Be careful: the two forms are spelled almost identically in arabizi, and only context tells them apart. The word belongs to all registers: conversation, press, official speech. In a city dweller's mouth, fella7 can also be a jibe meaning "hick, country bumpkin". Fla7a itself stays neutral.
Example
بابا خلّى الخدمة في تونس ورجع للفلاحة في البلاد
baba 5alla el 5edma fi tounes w raja3 lel fla7a fil bled
“My father left his job in Tunis and went back to farming back home.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fla7a” but also “fela7a”, “flaha”, “fle7a” and “filaha”. 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 “fla7a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “agriculture”; “farming, working the land”: fla7a in Moroccan.