nokta نكتة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“nokta” (نكتة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning joke, funny story.
Meanings
- joke, funny story
- laughable, unserious thing
Usage
Nokta means a joke or funny story that one tells: 7kali nokta, he told me a joke. The common plural is noukat. Figuratively, it is used ironically to describe something absurd or laughable: hédhi nokta, it's a joke, it's ridiculous. One also says nokta el mousem for "the joke of the season". For "to joke" in the sense of light banter, Tunisian prefers words like dh7ak or tfdhlik, whereas nokta stays focused on the funny story itself.
Example
فكّرتوني بالنكتة متاع الخنزير اللي يحبّ يبدّل اسمه
Fakkartouni bennokta mte3 el5enzir elli y7eb ybeddel essmou
“You reminded me of the joke about the pig who wants to change his name.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “nokta” but also “nekta”, “nokte” and “noukta”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “nokta” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “joke, funny story”; “a joke (not serious)”: nokta in Moroccan.