hezb حزب
Tunisian Derja · noun
“hezb” (حزب) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning political party.
Meanings
- political party
- section of the Quran recited
Usage
Hezb refers above all to a political party, a sense very present in Tunisian public debate. The plural is a7zeb. One says la7zeb for "the party" and hezb el-7akem for the ruling party. The word belongs to everyday vocabulary, whether one speaks about politics in derja or in standard Arabic. In the religious domain, hezb also refers to a portion of the Quran, or to a group recitation of verses and invocations, as in the zaouias. Context is enough to tell the two senses apart.
Example
ما فيهم حتّى حزب يمثل افكاري ,
me fihom 7atta 7ézb ymethil afkari ,
“Among them, not a single party represents my ideas.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hezb” but also “7ezb”, “7izb”, “hizb” and “7ézb”. 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 “hezb” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “political party”; “hizb, section of the Quran”: 7izb in Moroccan.