ra9m رقم
Algerian Darja · noun
“ra9m” (رقم) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning number (phone).
Meanings
- number (phone)
- number, figure
Usage
Ra9m refers to a number, especially a phone number: ra9m tilifoun, ra9m lwatsap. In speech, the borrowing "numéro" is at least as frequent, for example in a3tini numéro ta3ek. Ra9m sounds a little more formal or written. It is also used for a figure or a result, for example ra9m 9iyasi, "a record", in a journalistic register. The plural is ar9am. The letter "ق" is often transcribed 9 in arabizi, hence the ra9m spelling being the most widespread.
Example
عطيني الرقم تاعك نعيطلك.
3tini ra9m ta3ek n3ayatlek.
“Give me your number, I'll call you.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ra9m” but also “raqm”, “rakm”, “ragm” and “ra9em”. 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.
Type “ra9m” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “number (phone, etc.)”; “figure, digit”: ra9m in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “number”; “figure, digit”: ra9m in Tunisian.