sa9et ساقط
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“sa9et” (ساقط) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning vile, unprincipled, ill-mannered.
Meanings
- vile, unprincipled, ill-mannered
- failed (an exam)
- fallen, on the ground
Usage
Sa9et is used mainly to judge a person: someone low, unprincipled, coarse or untrustworthy. It is a harsh moral judgment, almost an insult, to be avoided in front of the person concerned. It is heard in expressions like "wled sa9et" or "bhim w sa9et". The feminine is sa9ta and the plural is sa9tin. Applied to a student, "sa9et fil bac" simply means failed, with no moral nuance. For an English speaker, the pitfall is to understand it only as "fallen": that literal meaning exists, but it is a minority one in everyday language.
Example
ما تعاشروش، راهو ولد ساقط.
ma t3acherouch, rahou wled sa9et.
“Don't hang out with him, he's a lowlife.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sa9et” but also “saket”, “sa9t”, “sa9it” and “saqet”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.