gaouria ڨاورية
Algerian Darja · noun
“gaouria” (ڨاورية) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning European woman, Western woman.
Meanings
- European woman, Western woman
- non-Muslim foreign woman
- Western-mannered girl (jokingly)
Usage
Gawriya is the feminine of gawri. The word refers to a European woman, especially a French one, and more broadly a Western woman. The plural is gawriyat. It is very common in speech, especially when talking about emigration or mixed marriages. Depending on tone, it can be neutral or slightly distant, since it marks otherness. It is also used to tease an Algerian woman with fair skin or manners seen as very Western. The pitfall is thinking the word means just any foreign woman: it refers above all to Europe and the West.
Example
خويا تزوج بڨاورية في فرانسا
khouya tzawwej b gawriya f fransa
“My brother married a European woman in France.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “gaouria” but also “gawriya”, “gawria” and “gaouriya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “gaouria” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “European woman, Western woman”: gawriya in Tunisian.