armla أرملة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“armla” (أرملة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning widow.
Meanings
- widow
Usage
Armla refers to a woman whose husband has died. The word is understood everywhere and is used in a neutral register, notably in social and administrative contexts or when talking about aid to widows. In colloquial speech, hejjala is also heard, with the same meaning, more popular and sometimes carrying a nuance of hardship. The masculine, widower, is rare. It is often replaced by a phrase like "mchat lih mratou", his wife has died. The usual plural is aramel.
Example
هي أرملة وكتربي ولادها بوحدها
hiya armla o katrebbi wladha b wa7edha
“She is a widow and she raises her children alone.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “armla” but also “armala”, “armela” and “2armala”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop.