gerjouma قرجوم
Algerian Darja · noun
“gerjouma” (قرجوم) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning throat, gullet.
Meanings
- throat, gullet
- Adam's apple, larynx
- sore throat, tonsillitis (plural)
Usage
The word gerjouma, or its masculine form gerjoum, familiarly means the throat, both the inside of the gullet and the front of the neck. It is used mostly to talk about a sore throat, food that gets stuck, or being grabbed by the throat. It is used with a possessive: gerjoumti (my throat), gerjoumtou (his throat). Its register is familiar. In a medical or more formal context, people rather say 7al9. In the plural, gradjem can mean the tonsils.
Example
قرجومتي توجعني
gerjoumti tewja3ni
“My throat hurts.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “gerjouma” but also “garjouma”, “9erjouma”, “garjoom”, “gorjouma” and “guerjouma”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find قرجوم and ڨرجومة, 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.