3mor عمر

Tunisian Derja · noun

“3mor” (عمر) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning age.

Meanings

1. age
2. life, lifespan
3. never (3omr + pronoun + negation)

Usage

3mor means age: 9addech 3omrek?, "how old are you?". It also means life: rabbi ytawwel fi 3omrek, "may God prolong your life", a very common expression of thanks. Followed by a pronoun and then a negation, it means "never": 3omrou ma ja, "he has never come". Not to be confused with the verb 3ammer, which is written the same in Arabic and means "to fill": 3ammer el kès, "fill the glass". Only context distinguishes them in writing.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3mor” but also “3omr”, “3omor” and “omr”. 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 “3mor” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to fill”; “to prepare tea”: 3emmer in Moroccan.

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “to fill (a container, a space)”; “to fill in (a form, a paper)”: 3ammer in Algerian.