msiba مصيبة

Tunisian Derja · noun

“msiba” (مصيبة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning misfortune, disaster.

Meanings

1. misfortune, disaster
2. big problem, mess
3. troublemaker

Usage

Msiba means a great misfortune, such as a bereavement or an accident. In casual speech it is also used to dramatize a mere annoyance: ya msibti, "what a disaster for me!". The plural is msayeb. It appears in common phrases: saretlou msiba, "a misfortune happened to him", or 7atou fi msiba, "they put him in a terrible mess". Said of a person, howa msiba, it presents him as a source of trouble or, in an admiring tone, as someone formidably strong. The tone shows which meaning is intended.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “msiba” but also “mosiba”, “msibaa”, “museeba” and “mousiba”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find مصيبة and موصيبة, all the same word.

Type “msiba” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “disaster, misfortune”; “big problem, mess”: mosiba in Moroccan.

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “misfortune, disaster”; “extraordinary person or thing”: msiba in Algerian.