khddam خدّام
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“khddam” (خدّام) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning working, employed.
Meanings
- working, employed
- running, functioning (device)
- worker, employee
Usage
Kheddam is the participle of the verb khdem (to work). It is used mostly like a present-tense verb: ana kheddam means "I work" or "I have a job." The feminine is kheddama and the plural is kheddamin. It is also used for a machine or device that works: tilifoun ma bqach kheddam (the phone no longer works). Used as a noun, it means a worker or an employee. The word has no pejorative nuance. The pitfall for an English speaker is looking for a conjugated verb where darija uses this participle.
Example
أنا خدّام فواحد الشركة
ana khddam f wa7d charika
“I work at a company.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khddam” but also “kheddam”, “5ddam”, “khdam” and “5dam”. 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 “khddam” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “worker, employee”; “hardworking”: khedam in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “worker, labourer, employee”; “working, employed”: khaddem in Tunisian.