skhen سخن
Tunisian Derja · verb
“skhen” (سخن) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to get hot, warm up.
Meanings
- to get hot, warm up
- to heat, warm up (something)
- to have a fever
Usage
The simple form skhen (yoskhon) means "to become hot": eddenya skhnet, "it has gotten hot". It is also said of a person who has a fever. The doubled-consonant form sakhkhen (ysakhkhen) is transitive and means "to heat, warm up": sakhkhen el ftour, "warm up the lunch". In arabizi the two forms are often spelled the same way. Only context and the presence of an object tell them apart. The corresponding adjective is skhoun, "hot".
Example
ان شاء الله ما يوصل ل تونس الّا ما تسخن الدنيا
inchalla ma youssel el tounes élla ma toskhen eddenya
“God willing, he won't get to Tunisia until the weather warms up.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “skhen” but also “sakhen”, “sakhan”, “s5en” and “skhon”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “skhen” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to heat, warm up”; “to get angry”: sekhen in Moroccan.