mdina مدينة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“mdina” (مدينة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning city, town.
Meanings
- city, town
- medina, old town
Usage
Mdina, pronounced with no vowel after the m, means city. In compound names, the construct form mdinet is used, and Standard Arabic madinat appears in official names. With the article, lmdina often means the medina, that is, the old walled town with its souks: "mchina l lmdina" is generally understood as an outing to the medina of Tunis. To refer simply to the city center, one says rather "el blad" or "westel blad". The plural is mdon. One also speaks of "mdina 3arbi", the old Arab town, as opposed to the colonial city.
Example
نحب ندور في المدينة العربي نهار الأحد.
n7eb ndour fel mdina el 3arbi nhar la7ad.
“I like walking around the medina on Sunday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mdina” but also “madina”, “medina”, “mdinet”, “madinet” and “madinat”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “mdina” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “city, town”; “medina, old city”: mdina in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “city, town”; “town centre, old town”: mdina in Algerian.