frik فريك
Algerian Darja · noun
“frik” (فريك) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning roasted cracked green wheat.
Meanings
- roasted cracked green wheat
- frik soup (by ellipsis)
Usage
Frik is wheat harvested while still green, then roasted and cracked. It is mainly used to make chorba frik, the emblematic soup of the Ramadan table in the east and center of the country. In the west, hrira is more usual, but frik is known there too. People commonly say "chorba frik" or simply "lfrik" to mean the soup itself. The word is used in all registers. Do not confuse it with bulgur: the smoky taste of frik comes from roasting the wheat.
Example
فرمضان ما تخطاش شوربة فريك على الطابلة
f ramdan ma tekhtach chorba frik 3la tabla
“During Ramadan, chorba frik never misses from the table.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “frik” but also “freek”, “frike” and “fric”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “frik” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “cracked green wheat”; “frik soup (chorba frik)”: frik in Tunisian.