khbech خبش
Tunisian Derja · noun
“khbech” (خبش) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning scratch, scrape.
Meanings
- scratch, scrape
- scratch on the skin
Usage
The word khbech refers to a scratch or scrape on an object (car, phone, furniture) or a scratch on the skin. It is often heard in trade and when exchanging goods: fama khbech houni (there's a scratch here). It is related to the verb khbech (to scratch, to scrape), used especially for a cat: el gattous khbechni. Common and colloquial register. For a crack or a break, one would rather say fadda or kasra.
Example
التليفون فيه خبش على الشاشة.
et-tilifoun fih khbech 3la ech-chacha.
“The phone has a scratch on the screen.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khbech” but also “5bech”, “khbach”, “5bach” and “khebch”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khbech” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to scratch, claw”: khbech in Moroccan.