jmil جميل
Algerian Darja · noun
“jmil” (جميل) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning favor, good turn.
Meanings
- favor, good turn
- beautiful (formal)
Usage
In Darja, jmil mainly means a kindness, a favor for which one remains indebted. Typical phrases are "dir fiya jmil" (do me a favor) and "ma nensach jmilek" (I won't forget what you did for me). The meaning "beautiful" comes from Standard Arabic. It is found in writing and in comments, but in speech people rather say chbab, zin or mlih. An English speaker should therefore avoid mechanically translating jmil as "beautiful" in conversation: the meaning "favor" is the most properly Algerian one.
Example
درتلي جميل ما ننساهش.
dertli jmil ma nensahch.
“You did me a favor I won't forget.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “jmil” but also “jamil”, “djmil” and “jmiil”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “jmil” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “favor, good turn”; “beautiful, pretty (formal)”: jmil in Moroccan.