gawriya ڨاورية
Tunisian Derja · noun
“gawriya” (ڨاورية) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning European woman, Western woman.
Meanings
- European woman, Western woman
Usage
Gawriya is the feminine of gawri. It refers to a European or Western woman, very often a Frenchwoman or a tourist. The register is informal. The word is most often neutral, but it can carry a nuance of distance or irony depending on context. It is frequently heard in phrases like "tzawej b gawriya", for a man who has married a foreigner. It is also sometimes used, jokingly, to describe a Tunisian woman whose manners or appearance are considered European. In a more formal register, it is better to name the nationality.
Example
ولد عمّي تزوّج بڨاورية
weld 3ammi tzawej b gawriya
“My cousin married a European woman.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “gawriya” but also “gaouria”, “gawria”, “gawrya” and “gaouriya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “gawriya” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “European woman, Western woman”; “non-Muslim foreign woman”: gaouria in Algerian.