fa9r فقر
Tunisian Derja · noun
“fa9r” (فقر) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning poverty, destitution.
Meanings
- poverty, destitution
- want, deprivation
Usage
Fa9r means "poverty". The word is shared by Standard Arabic and Tunisian speech, and it is very present in social and political discussions. It is often intensified: "fa9r mod9a3" means extreme poverty, a phrase from the written register but common in speech. In everyday conversation, people more readily talk about someone who is "mezyen", "fa9ir" or "mesker" than about "fa9r" in the abstract. The corresponding adjective is fa9ir, "poor".
Example
الفقر زاد برشا في الجهات الداخلية.
el fa9r zed barcha fel jihet ed-dekhliya.
“Poverty has increased a lot in the interior regions.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fa9r” but also “faqr”, “fakr”, “fa9er” and “fa2r”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “fa9r” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “poverty, destitution”; “deficiency (in "fa9r dem")”: fa9r in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “poverty, destitution”; “lack, poor quality (figurative)”: fa9r in Algerian.