dhi9 ضيق
Algerian Darja · noun
“dhi9” (ضيق) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning oppression, anguish, tightness.
Meanings
- oppression, anguish, tightness
- narrow, tight
- narrow-minded, petty
Usage
Read dhiq, the word denotes a feeling of oppression or anguish: dhiq fi sder (a tightness in the chest), "rani fi dhiq" (I feel cramped, anxious, or in financial difficulty). The same spelling is also read dhayyaq, an adjective: narrow (triq dhayqa, a narrow street; sebbat dhayyaq, a shoe that is too tight) and, figuratively, narrow-minded or ungenerous (insan dhayyaq). The related verb is dhaq/yedhiq, "to feel oppressed" (dhaqet rouhi, I've had enough, I'm suffocating). Context and pronunciation make it possible to tell the noun from the adjective.
Example
حسيت بضيق في صدري
hassit b dhi9 fi sadri
“I felt a tightness in my chest.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dhi9” but also “di9”, “dhiq”, “dayaq” and “dhaye9”. 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 “dhi9” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “narrow, tight”; “cramped, small (place)”: dyye9 in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “distress, hardship, difficult time”; “narrowness, lack of space”: dhi9 in Tunisian.