# All dialects: محى (to erase)



## elroy

Do you use محى to mean “to erase” in your dialect and if so, what is the present tense form?

In Palestinian, both بَمحي (_bamḥi_) and بَمحى (_bamḥa_) occur, which I find striking because I can’t think of any other verb that does this!


----------



## tounsi51

In TA we use فسخ


----------



## Sun-Shine

In which context?


----------



## elroy

I’m not asking how you say “erase.”  I’m asking if you use محى (at all) and if so, what the present tense form(s) is/are.


----------



## reno33

In SA (Eastern Province), I've heard and used  يـمـسـح   (yimsiH)  but I believe it's used throughout SA.  Never heard   بَمحي (_bamḥi_) or بَمحى (_bamḥa_)


----------



## tounsi51

elroy said:


> I’m not asking how you say “erase.”  I’m asking if you use محى (at all) and if so, what the present tense form(s) is/are.



"In TA we use فسخ "

that means no...


----------



## Sun-Shine

Ah, I don't know if it is used in Egypt but if it is then it would be محى and the present is يِمْحي
أنا بَمْحي ، هو بيِمحي


----------



## elroy

tounsi51 said:


> "In TA we use فسخ "
> 
> that means no...


I got that.   I was responding to sunshine.


----------



## tounsi51

elroy said:


> I got that.   I was responding to sunshine.



No worry then 

@Hemza you can help, I know this is used in Morocco


----------



## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> @Hemza you can help, I know this is used in Morocco


 محى isn't used but it looks akin to نحى and it doesn't mean "to erase" but "to remove/suppress". I think نحى is much more used in Eastern Morocco near Algeria (I know for sure Western Algerians say نحى which means remove). For "to erase" we say مسح.

We say نمسح (I erase)

May be محى is a distortion of نحى? (or is it a new word I don't know?).


----------



## elroy

محى is not a distortion of anything; it’s فصحى.


----------



## Hemza

elroy said:


> محى is not a distortion of anything; it’s فصحى.



My bad . So both are two different words.


----------



## momai

Yes, it's used in Syria. Ana bim7e, hiwe byim7e ...


----------



## wriight

^ditto Lebanese: _ma7a - yem7e _with no _-a_ variant in the latter. (AFAICT, though, it has a meaning closer to حذف, whereas erasing with a rubber eraser is _ma77a - yma77e_.)


----------



## elroy

momai said:


> Ana bim7e, hiwe byim7e


 Whoa, -e not -i?   (For Lebanese I’m not surprised, since -i>-e is a thing in Lebanese.) 

And I guess “bamḥa” is a Palestinian peculiarity, then? 

By the way, in Palestinian “bamḥa/bamḥi” is a neutral “erase.”  “bamaḥḥi” is intensive/repeated.


----------



## momai

elroy said:


> Whoa, -e not -i?   (For Lebanese I’m not surprised, since -i>-e is a thing in Lebanese.)


This is Damascene.


----------



## elroy

momai said:


> This is Damascene.


 Do you mean -i is Damascene?


----------



## momai

elroy said:


> Do you mean -i is Damascene?


Yes.


----------



## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> In Palestinian, both بَمحي (_bamḥi_) and بَمحى (_bamḥa_) occur, which I find striking because I can’t think of any other verb that does this!



I can't think of any other verb either. This particular verb always confuses me because I'm never sure which one is correct and which one is wrong - I just assumed that one is wrong but I hear them both quite often! It never occurred to me that both might be correct.

The word is used in Iraqi Arabic, but it's always يمحي with a yaa', not alif maqSoura. 

By the way, for eraser and erasing something using the eraser, they use يمسح, but يمحي is used to mean erase in other contexts (to erase an idea from your mind, for example).


----------

