7amel حامل
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“7amel” (حامل) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning pregnant (woman).
Meanings
- pregnant (woman)
- carrier (of a virus, message)
- to hold a grudge against someone
Usage
7amel mainly means "pregnant". The form is invariable, with no feminine marker, even when it refers to a woman: hiya 7amel. The month is given with fi: 7amel fi chhar essab3a. The word also has a sense of "carrier", inherited from Standard Arabic: 7amel lel virus, 7amel lemana. In colloquial speech, 7amel 3la fulen means "to hold a grudge against someone, to have it in for them". Note: for a person angry at someone, it is the preposition 3la that distinguishes this sense from that of pregnancy.
Example
مرتو حامل في الشهر الخامس
mertou 7amel fi echhar el khames
“His wife is five months pregnant.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7amel” but also “hamel”, “7amil”, “hamil” and “7aml”. 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.