tab9a طبقة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“tab9a” (طبقة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning layer, coating.
Meanings
- layer, coating
- social class
- floor of a building
Usage
Tab9a first refers to a superimposed layer, in cooking or construction: a layer of dough, paint, or dust. The social-class sense comes from written language, especially in expressions such as "tab9a raqya" (well-off milieu) or "tab9a chaabia" (working classes), which are heard in the media and in conversations about society. The word is also used for the floor of a building, although people often use the French word "étage". The plural is tba9 or tab9at depending on the sense.
Example
حط طبقة هريسة فوق الخبزة.
7ot tab9a harissa fou9 el khobza.
“Put a layer of harissa on the bread.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tab9a” but also “tabka”, “tabqa” and “taba9a”. 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.
Type “tab9a” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “layer, stratum”; “social class”: tb9a in Moroccan.