ktef كتف
Tunisian Derja · noun
“ktef” (كتف) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning shoulder.
Meanings
- shoulder
Usage
Ktef means the shoulder. The plural is ktaf. It is often combined with a possessive pronoun: ketfi ("my shoulder"), ketfou ("his shoulder"). The word is common when talking about the body and health, for example ketfi ywaja3 fiya, "my shoulder hurts". It also appears in images such as hezz 3la ktafou, "to carry on one's shoulders", or 3tah ktef, "to back him up, to support him". In butchery, ktef means lamb shoulder. It is feminine in some uses and masculine in others, depending on the speaker.
Example
هزّيت الساك على كتفي.
hezzit essak 3la ketfi.
“I carried the bag on my shoulder.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ktef” but also “katf”, “ketf”, “kitf” and “kteff”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “ktef” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “shoulder”: ktef in Moroccan.