khaddem خدام
Tunisian Derja · noun
“khaddem” (خدام) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning worker, labourer, employee.
Meanings
- worker, labourer, employee
- working, employed
- working, functioning
Usage
Khaddem refers to someone who works: a labourer, an employee (el khaddema, the workers) and, as an adjective, a person who has a job (inti khaddem?, are you working?) or who is hard-working (bnt khaddema, a hard-working girl). Applied to an object or device, it means "that works", "in working order": el karhba khaddma (the car works), el wifi mouch khaddem (the wifi isn't working). The feminine is khaddma. Not to be confused with khadim, "servant", a more literary word. The use for devices is very frequent.
Example
التلفزة مش خدّامة من البارح
ettalvza mouch khaddma mel bere7
“The TV hasn't worked since yesterday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khaddem” but also “5addem”, “khadem”, “5adem” and “khaddam”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khaddem” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “working, employed”; “running, functioning (device)”: khddam in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “worker, employee”; “hardworking”: khedam in Algerian.