ma5lou3 مخلوع
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“ma5lou3” (مخلوع) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning frightened, scared.
Meanings
- frightened, scared
- the deposed president (el ma5lou3)
Usage
In everyday Tunisian, m5alla3 or ma5lou3 describes a person who has been frightened. It relates to l5al3a, "fear", and t5alla3, "to be afraid". The feminine is ma5lou3a. Since the revolution, the expression "el ma5lou3", with the article, also refers to the former overthrown president. It is found mainly in political discourse and on social media, in the phrase "fi 3ahd el ma5lou3" ("under the former regime"). The sense of "dislocated shoulder", common elsewhere, exists but is less typical of everyday Tunisian usage.
Example
الصغير مخلوع من الكلب، ما حبّش يخرج
es-sghir ma5lou3 mel kelb, ma 7abbech yo5roj
“The kid is scared of the dog, he didn't want to go out.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ma5lou3” but also “mkhlou3”, “makhlou3”, “ma5lu3” and “m5lou3”. 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; 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “ma5lou3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “frightened, scared”; “stunned, astonished”: mekhlou3 in Algerian.