m3awej معوج
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“m3awej” (معوج) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning crooked, not straight.
Meanings
- crooked, not straight
- dishonest, crooked in behaviour
Usage
M3awej is said of an object that is not straight: a nail, a line, a badly hung picture. Figuratively, it describes a dishonest person or behaviour, or a character that is hard to straighten out. The feminine is "m3awja" and the plural "m3awjin". It is found in proverbs about people who do not change their nature. The related verb is "3awej" (to bend, to make crooked). To say simply "leaning", "mayel" is often preferred.
Example
التصويرة معوجة، صلحها.
e tsawira m3awja, sale7ha.
“The picture is crooked, straighten it.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m3awej” but also “m3awaj” and “m3ouwej”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “m3awej” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “crooked, bent”; “dishonest, shady”: m3awaj in Algerian.