3mam عمام
Moroccan Darija · noun
“3mam” (عمام) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning paternal uncles.
Meanings
- paternal uncles
Usage
3mam is the plural of 3emm, the uncle on the father's side. The maternal uncle is khal, plural khwal; darija always distinguishes the two sides, which English does not. The word is almost always used with a possessive: 3mami (my paternal uncles), 3mamek (your uncles). Wlad 3mami refers to paternal cousins, and by extension to relatives of the same lineage. Be careful not to confuse it with 2imam (imam), which is sometimes misspelled the same way in Arabic script.
Example
عمامي ساكنين فالبلاد
3mami saknin f lblad
“My paternal uncles live back home.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3mam” but also “a3mam” and “3mami”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.