7akem حاكم
Tunisian Derja · noun
“7akem” (حاكم) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning the police, law enforcement.
Meanings
- the police, law enforcement
- ruler, governor
Usage
In Tunisia, el-7akem informally means the police, and more broadly the authorities who step in. Jé el-7akem means "the police have arrived", and kalb mta3 7akem means a police dog. The word is used with the article and takes singular agreement, even though it refers to a whole body. The sense of "ruler, governor", from Standard Arabic, appears mainly in writing and in political discourse. It should not be taken to mean "judge".
Example
سكّر الحانوت قبل ما يجي الحاكم
sakkar el-7anout 9bal ma yji el-7akem
“He closed the shop before the police arrived.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7akem” but also “hakem”, “7akim” and “hakim”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.