ma3hed معهد

Tunisian Derja · noun

“ma3hed” (معهد) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning high school.

Meanings

1. high school
2. institute (higher, specialized)

Usage

The primary meaning is a trap for a French speaker. In Tunisia, ma3hed refers above all to the lycée, i.e. the secondary school: na9ra fil ma3hed, "I'm in high school". Middle school is rather called ecole e3dadiya or collège. The ma3hed namouthaji is the model school, reserved for the best students. The word also refers to higher or specialized institutions, such as a university institute, a national statistics institute, or a ma3hed tajmil, "beauty institute". The plural is ma3ahed.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ma3hed” but also “ma38ed”, “maahed” and “ma3had”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent; 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer.

Type “ma3hed” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “institute, specialized school”: ma3had in Moroccan.