azma أزمة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“azma” (أزمة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning crisis.
Meanings
- crisis
- shortage
Usage
Azma refers to a crisis, whether economic, political or personal. It is often heard in the construction dowz azma, "to go through a crisis": kaydouz men azma. The word is also used to talk about a shortage or a tense situation: azma dyal lma, "water crisis". It comes from standard Arabic but has settled well into everyday conversation. For a fit of nerves or a medical crisis, the French word crise or other words are often preferred. The plural azamat remains rather media language.
Example
كايدوز من أزمة صعيبة
kaydouz men azma s3iba
“He is going through a difficult crisis.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “azma” but also “2azma” and “2ezma”. 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.
Type “azma” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “crisis”; “shortage of a product”: azma in Algerian.