rbi3 الربيع
Tunisian Derja · noun
“rbi3” (الربيع) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning spring (season).
Meanings
- spring (season)
- grass, greenery
- Rabi', Hijri calendar month
Usage
Errbi3, often written rbi3 without the article, means spring, the season when the countryside turns green and fruit trees blossom. One says fi rbi3, "in spring", and d5oul errbi3 for the arrival of spring. The word also evokes mild, pleasant days: ayyemet errbi3. Note: rbi3 also means "green grass, greenery", for example in 5dhar kif errbi3. In the political context, errabi3 el 3arabi means the "Arab Spring". This expression is pronounced more in the Standard Arabic manner.
Example
في الربيع الدنيا الكل تخضار
fi rbi3 eddenya lkol to5dhar
“In spring, everything turns green.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “rbi3” but also “errbi3”, “rabi3” and “erbi3”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find الربيع and ربيع, all the same word.
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.
Type “rbi3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
The same word also exists in Moroccan Darija, written ربيع, where it means “grass, greenery, green fodder”; “spring”: rbi3 in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
The same word also exists in Algerian Darja, written ربيع, where it means “spring (season)”; “grass, greenery”: rbi3 in Algerian.