qmarji قمارجي
Algerian Darja · noun
“qmarji” (قمارجي) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning gambler, gambling addict.
Meanings
- gambler, gambling addict
Usage
Qmarji means a person who habitually gambles money, at cards, on bets or other games of chance. The word derives from "qmar", gambling, with the suffix "-ji" indicating a habitual activity or a trade. It is also found in "qahwaji" or "kawarji". The term is clearly pejorative: it suggests vice and ruin more than mere leisure. It is used as a noun or as a descriptor: "rah qmarji" (he is a gambler). The usual plural is "qmarjiya".
Example
خوه قمارجي، يخسر كلش في الكارطة.
khouh qmarji, yakhser koulech fel karta.
“His brother is a compulsive gambler, he loses everything at cards.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “qmarji” but also “gmarji”, “9marji”, “kmarji” and “qmardji”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.