stylo ستيلو
Tunisian Derja · noun
“stylo” (ستيلو) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning pen.
Meanings
- pen
Usage
Stylo is a loanword from French, fully integrated into Tunisian Arabic, and is the usual word for a pen. A ballpoint pen is stylo jef, literally "dry pen". The plural is stylouwet. The word is used at school, at the office and in daily life, for example in a3tini stylo (give me a pen). The pronunciation is close to the French. It is sometimes masculine and sometimes treated as feminine, depending on the speaker. The Arabic term qalam is understood but is used much less in speech.
Example
سلفني ستيلو يعيشك
salafni stylo y3ichek
“Lend me a pen, please.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “stylo” but also “stilo”, “estylo” and “stylou”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “stylo” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “pen”: stylo in Moroccan.