ghammech غمش
Tunisian Derja · verb
“ghammech” (غمش) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to close one's eyes.
Meanings
- to close one's eyes
- to squint, half-close one's eyes
Usage
Ghammech (imperfect yghammech) is almost always used with 3inîk, "your eyes", or 3inîh, "his eyes". It means to close one's eyes, for example to sleep, make a wish, or imagine something. It coexists with ghammadh, closer to standard Arabic, which has the same meaning. The register is informal. For an English speaker, the pitfall is the figurative sense: in English, "to turn a blind eye to" means to tolerate. This sense is not attested here for ghammech, which stays concrete: it refers to the physical gesture.
Example
كلّ ما تغمّش عينيك تشوفها
koll ma tghamméch 3inik tchoufha
“Every time you close your eyes, you see her.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghammech” but also “8ammech”, “ghamech” and “ghammach”. 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.