djaja دجاجة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“djaja” (دجاجة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning hen.
Meanings
- hen
- chicken (meat)
Usage
Djaja refers to the live hen as well as the chicken one buys or cooks. It is a unit noun: the collective is djaj ("chickens", "chicken meat"). One says ddjaj to talk about the meat in general, for example "tajine b ddjaj". Djaja beldiya means a free-range hen raised at home, more expensive and reputed to taste better than farmed chicken, called djaj roumi. The rooster is serdouk and the chick is fellous. Pitfall: djaja is used for both the animal and the dish.
Example
مشيتي خونتي الجيران دجاجة
mchiti khwenti ljiran djaja
“You went and stole a hen from the neighbours.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “djaja” but also “djeja”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “djaja” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “hen, chicken”; “fool, coward (colloquial)”: djeja in Tunisian.