sa7afa صحافة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“sa7afa” (صحافة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning press, journalism.
Meanings
- press, journalism
- journalists, the media
Usage
Sa7afa refers both to the profession of journalist and to the media as a whole. One says yekhdem fes-sa7afa (he works in the press) or y9ra sa7afa (he studies journalism). The word often comes up in debates about the Tunisian media, sometimes pejoratively when certain journalists are accused of sensationalism. A journalist is sa7afi, or sa7afiya in the feminine. The register is neutral. In conversation, the French words "médias" or "journalistes" are also heard, but sa7afa remains the usual term in derja.
Example
أختي تخدم في الصحافة
okhti tekhdem fes-sa7afa
“My sister works in the press.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sa7afa” but also “s7afa”, “sahafa” and “sa7afé”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “sa7afa” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “press, print media”; “journalism (profession)”: sa7afa in Moroccan.