ghbi غبي
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“ghbi” (غبي) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning stupid, foolish.
Meanings
- stupid, foolish
Usage
Ghbi describes a person who understands poorly or acts without thinking. The feminine is ghbiya, the plural aghbiya or ghbiyin. It is often used as a form of address: "ya ghbi!", you idiot. This word is understood everywhere, but Tunisian has more typical and more colloquial equivalents, such as bhim (donkey, dolt), mbahbah or mtakhar. Ghbi remains quite direct and can offend; among friends it passes as teasing, with a stranger it is a mild insult. Informal register.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghbi” but also “8bi”, “ghabi”, “ghbii” and “8abi”. 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 “ghbi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “stupid, silly”: ghabi in Moroccan.