m9awel مقاول

Tunisian Derja · noun

“m9awel” (مقاول) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning building contractor.

Meanings

1. building contractor
2. subcontractor, labor supplier

Usage

M9awel mainly refers to a building contractor, someone you hire to build or renovate a house: jebna m9awel, "we hired a contractor". It also refers to subcontracting companies that supply labor, for example for cleaning or security work. This arrangement is often criticized for the job insecurity it imposes on employees. Note that the word does not mean "entrepreneur" in the start-up founder sense; for that, people rather say "entrepreneur" in French or ba3ith machrou3. The plural is m9awlin.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m9awel” but also “mqawel”, “mkawel”, “moqawel” and “m9awil”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.

Type “m9awel” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “entrepreneur, business owner”; “building contractor”: mo9awil in Moroccan.