sbitar سبيطار
Tunisian Derja · noun
“sbitar” (سبيطار) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning hospital.
Meanings
- hospital
Usage
Sbitar is the usual spoken word for "hospital". It is an old, fully adapted loanword. The common plural is sbitarat. People say hazzouh lel sbitar "they took him to the hospital" or sbitar 3am "public hospital", as opposed to the private clinic (klinik). The word is neutral and everyday. In the media and in writing, Standard Arabic mustachfa is more common, though it is rarely used in conversation.
Example
هزّوه للسبيطار
hazzouh lel sbitar
“They took him to the hospital.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sbitar” but also “sbiter”, “sbitaar”, “spitar”, “esbitar” and “sbittar”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find سبيطار and سبيتار, all the same word.
Type “sbitar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
The same word also exists in Moroccan Darija, written سبيتار, where it means “hospital”: sbitar in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “hospital”: sbitar in Algerian.