ghare9 غارق
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“ghare9” (غارق) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning drowned, submerged by water.
Meanings
- drowned, submerged by water
- immersed, absorbed (in an activity)
- buried (in debt, problems)
Usage
Ghare9 (feminine ghar9a, plural ghar9in) first describes a person or object engulfed by water: a drowned person, a boat that has sunk, a flooded street. Figuratively it is very common for being completely taken up by something: ghare9 fil khidma (swamped with work), ghare9 fil dyoun (buried in debt), ghare9 fil 9raya (immersed in revision). The usual construction is ghare9 fi + noun. For the action itself, the verb ghre9 (to drown, to sink) is used. The word can mean someone who died by drowning, but also someone who is simply overwhelmed or going under; context decides.
Example
لقاو راجل غارق في البحر.
l9aw rajel ghare9 fil b7ar.
“They found a drowned man in the sea.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghare9” but also “8are9”, “gharek”, “ghareq” and “ghare9a”. 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.