tekhbich تخبيش
Tunisian Derja · noun
“tekhbich” (تخبيش) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning scratch, scrape mark.
Meanings
- scratch, scrape mark
- clawing, scratching
Usage
Tekhbich is the verbal noun of khabbech, "to claw, to scratch". It refers equally to a scratch from a cat or a fingernail and to scratches on a car body or a screen. In a fight, it evokes clawing, as in an argument between children. A frequent pitfall in writing: the same Arabic spelling is also used for "ma tkhabbich", "don't hide", from the verb khabba, "to hide". Only context tells them apart. The word belongs to the ordinary informal register.
Example
الكرهبة فيها تخبيش من الجنب.
el karhba fiha tekhbich mel jneb.
“The car has scratches on the side.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tekhbich” but also “tkhbich”, “t5bich”, “tekhbiche” and “takhbich”. 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.