l3alam لعالم
Moroccan Darija · noun
“l3alam” (لعالم) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning world, the whole earth.
Meanings
- world, the whole earth
- people, everyone
Usage
Lʿalam means "the world", with the article l-. It appears in fixed expressions such as kass lʿalam (the World Cup) or f lʿalam kamel (in the whole world). The word comes from common Arabic and is used in all registers, from conversation to the media. To say "everyone" in the sense of "each person", darija prefers gaʿ nnas or ʿbad llah, not lʿalam. The spelling l2alam comes from a pronunciation that weakens the ʿayn. It can also correspond to lʾalam (pain), a distinct word.
Example
بغيت نسافر لعالم
bghit nSafer l3alam
“I want to travel around the world.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “l3alam” but also “l3alem”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “l3alam” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “the world, the whole Earth”; “people, everyone”: l3alem in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “the world”; “people, everyone”: l3alem in Tunisian.