djaj دجاج
Moroccan Darija · noun
“djaj” (دجاج) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning chicken (meat).
Meanings
- chicken (meat)
- chickens, poultry (collective)
Usage
Djaj is a collective noun that refers to both live poultry and their meat. For a single hen, one says djaja. It appears in many dishes: djaj mhemmer (roast or spice-browned chicken), djaj beldi (free-range chicken, more prized), djaj roumi (industrially farmed chicken). The beldi / roumi distinction matters at the market. As with other collectives, agreement is often masculine singular. To talk about raising chickens, one says rebba djaj.
Example
تشهيت دجاج محمر
tchehit djaj m7emer
“I'm craving roast chicken.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “djaj” but also “djej” and “djjaj”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “djaj” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “chicken (meat)”; “hens, live poultry”: djej in Tunisian.