7ejjam حجّام
Moroccan Darija · noun
“7ejjam” (حجّام) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning men's barber.
Meanings
- men's barber
- cupper (bloodletting practitioner)
Usage
7ejjam commonly means the men's barber, the neighborhood shop where you get a haircut and a shave. One says mchit l 7ejjam, "I went to the barber." The shop is called 7ejjama or simply l 7ejjam. The word comes from the traditional trade of barber, who also practiced bloodletting by cupping (l7jama). This sense survives in some contexts. For a women's hairdresser or a women's salon, koiffeur or koiffeuse is used instead, borrowed from French.
Example
غادي نمشي عند الحجّام نقاد شعري
ghadi nmchi 3end l7ejjam n9ad cha3ri
“I'm going to the barber to get my hair cut.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7ejjam” but also “7jjam”, “7ajjam”, “hajjam” and “7ajam”. 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 “7ejjam” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “men's hairdresser, barber”; “barbershop”: 7ajjem in Tunisian.