chlagham شلاغم

Moroccan Darija · noun

“chlagham” (شلاغم) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning moustaches.

Meanings

1. moustaches
2. moustache (of a person)

Usage

Chlagham is the plural of chelghoum, "moustache". In everyday use, the plural is often used to talk about one person's moustache, like the French "les moustaches": 3endu chlagham kbar, "he has a big moustache". The word is also used for a cat's whiskers. It appears in colloquial expressions linked to manhood or age, for example to say that a boy is becoming a man. The register is everyday and colloquial.

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chlagham” but also “chlaghem”, “shlagham” and “chlarem”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “chlagham” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “moustache”; “upper-lip hair”: chlaghem in Algerian.