feggous الفقوس

Algerian Darja · noun

“feggous” (الفقوس) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning long cucumber, Armenian cucumber.

Meanings

1. long cucumber, Armenian cucumber
2. unripe melon
3. Armenian cucumber, snake melon

Usage

Feggous refers to a long, pale, slightly ribbed vegetable that is eaten raw like a cucumber, especially in summer. Botanically, it is a variety of melon. The reference definition speaks of "yellow melon", but in Algeria the word refers first to this vegetable, which is distinguished from the ordinary cucumber, called khiyar. It is served in salads or plain, with salt. The register is everyday and you hear it everywhere at the market. Pitfall: it is not a sweet melon. For melon, you say bettikh.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “feggous” but also “fagous”, “fakous”, “fe9ous”, “lfeggous” and “fe99ous”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find الفقوس and فقوس, all the same word.

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 “feggous” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

The same word also exists in Tunisian Derja, written فقوس, where it means “long, thin cucumber (snake melon)”; “cucumber in general”: fagous in Tunisian.