ghamek غامق
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“ghamek” (غامق) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning dark (colour).
Meanings
- dark (colour)
- dim, poorly lit
Usage
Ghamek mainly describes a dark colour, as opposed to fet7 (light). It goes after the name of the colour or object: "azrek ghamek" (dark blue), "chocolat ghamek" (dark chocolate). It is commonly used for clothes, paint, hair or skin. The feminine is ghamka, the plural ghamkin. To describe a place without light, dhlam (dark) is preferred; ghamek remains above all a term for shades of colour. The word is understood everywhere and belongs to no particular register.
Example
نحب سورية زرقاء غامقة
n7eb souriya zar9a ghamka
“I'd like a dark blue shirt.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghamek” but also “gham9”, “ghame9”, “ghamak” and “8amek”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “ghamek” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “dark (colour)”: ghame9 in Algerian.