7ajeb حاجب
Moroccan Darija · noun
“7ajeb” (حاجب) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning eyebrow.
Meanings
- eyebrow
- chamberlain (historical sense)
Usage
7ajeb commonly means eyebrow. Its plural is 7wajeb, very frequent since people generally speak of both eyebrows. It is often heard in connection with beauty: jbed 7wajbha ("she plucked her eyebrows") or rsem 7wajeb ("to draw on eyebrows"). Raising the eyebrows can also express surprise or disapproval. In a historical register, the same word means the palace chamberlain, but this sense is marginal in daily life. When writing in Latin letters, the aspirated h is generally written 7.
Example
عندها حواجب زوينين
3ndha 7wajeb zwinin
“She has beautiful eyebrows.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7ajeb” but also “7ajb”, “hajeb” and “hajb”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “7ajeb” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “eyebrow”; “blocker; something that masks”: 7ajeb in Tunisian.