baggar بقار
Algerian Darja · noun
“baggar” (بقار) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning cattle breeder or cow keeper.
Meanings
- cattle breeder or cow keeper
- boor, bumpkin (pejorative)
Usage
Baggar comes from bagra, "cow", pronounced with a hard g in much of the country. Literally, the word refers to someone who raises or tends cows. The meaning is neutral in a rural or farming context. Figuratively, it is used to mock someone seen as crude, ill-mannered or "country", somewhat like "bumpkin". The tone therefore depends entirely on context. Warning: applied to a person in a city, it is almost always mockery. The usual plural is baggara.
Example
باباه بقّار، عندو عشرين بقرة.
babah baggar, 3ando 3echrin bagra.
“His father is a cowherd, he has twenty cows.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “baggar” but also “baggaar”, “bagar”, “bagger” and “beggar”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.