khamej خامج
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“khamej” (خامج) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning rotten, spoiled.
Meanings
- rotten, spoiled
- dirty, disgusting
Usage
Khamej is said of food that has gone off or rotted: fruit, meat, mouldy bread. It is formed from the verb khmej, "to rot, to spoil". The feminine is khamja and the plural khamjin. By extension, it is applied to something dirty or repulsive, even to a person or behaviour considered dishonest. This figurative sense is informal and clearly pejorative, so it should be used with caution. For fruit that is overripe but still edible, the word is too strong.
Example
مابقيتش باغي نعسر داك تفاح حيت خامج
mab9itch baghi ne3ser dak tfa7 7it 5maj
“I don't want to squeeze that apple anymore, because it's rotten.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khamej” but also “5amej”, “khamaj” and “5maj”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khamej” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “dirty, filthy”; “ill-mannered, immoral”: khamej in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “rotten, spoiled (food)”; “filthy, dirty”: 5amej in Tunisian.