3moumi عمومي
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“3moumi” (عمومي) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning public, for everyone's use.
Meanings
- public, for everyone's use
- public-sector, state-run
Usage
3moumi describes something open to everyone or run by the state. It appears in common expressions: tilifoun 3moumi (public phone, also called a taxiphone), mir7adh 3moumi (public toilets), tri9 3moumiya (public road). In the feminine, 3moumiya, it appears in el wadhifa el 3moumiya, the civil service; a 3moumi is then a civil servant or public-sector employee, as opposed to khass (private). The word comes from administrative language, but it is perfectly common in speech.
Example
فمّا تاليفون عمومي قريب من هوني؟
famma tilifoun 3moumi 9rib men houni?
“Is there a public phone near here?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3moumi” but also “3omoumi”, “3oumoumi”, “amoumi” and “3mumi”. 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 “3moumi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “public, state-run”; “general, common”: 3omoumi in Moroccan.