mghlo9 مغلوق
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“mghlo9” (مغلوق) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning closed.
Meanings
- closed
- closed-off, narrow-minded (person)
- overcast, dark (sky)
Usage
Mghlo9 is the past participle of ghle9, "to close". It is the ordinary word for saying that a door, shop or road is closed: lbab mghlo9, l7anout mghlo9a. The feminine is mghlo9a and the plural is mghlo9in. Applied to a person, it describes them as closed-off or narrow-minded. It can also describe an overcast sky or a dark place, which explains the English gloss "dark". Depending on the region, the letter 9 is pronounced like a q or like a g. Its opposite is m7lol, "open".
Example
الحانوت مغلوقة نهار الجمعة.
l7anout mghlo9a nhar jem3a.
“The shop is closed on Friday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mghlo9” but also “mghlou9”, “maghlou9”, “mghlouq” and “maghlouq”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.