ghali غالي
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“ghali” (غالي) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning expensive, high-priced.
Meanings
- expensive, high-priced
- precious, dear
Usage
Ghali is used mainly for a high price: it is intensified with barcha ("very") and its opposite is rkhis ("cheap"). It agrees in gender and number: ghalia in the feminine, ghalyin in the plural. In the emotional sense, it describes a person who is dear to you. It is heard in forms of address such as ya ghali or khouya el ghali ("my dear brother"), common in congratulations and warm messages. As in English, the same word covers both price and affection ("dear"). Context tells the two senses apart.
Example
الحوت ولّى غالي برشا
el 7out walla ghali barcha
“Fish has become very expensive.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghali” but also “8ali”, “ghaly” and “8aly”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer.
Type “ghali” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “expensive, costly”; “precious, dear to the heart”: ghali in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “expensive, costly”; “dear, precious”: ghali in Algerian.