mma5er ممخر
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“mma5er” (ممخر) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning late.
Meanings
- late
Usage
Mma5er is used to say that someone is or arrives late. It is a participle, so it agrees: mma5ra in the feminine, mma5rin in the plural. It is used mostly with verbs of motion: jit mma5er, wsolt mma5er. The length of the delay can be given before the word, as in sa3a mma5er, "an hour late". The word is very common in speech, in any register. Pitfall: it applies to the person or the arrival, not to the time itself. For "it is late", say el wa9t fet or ta3ab el wa9t instead.
Example
اليوم جيت ممخّر للخدمة
lyoum jit mma5er lel khedma
“Today I arrived late to work.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mma5er” but also “mmakher”, “mmakhar” and “m5ar”. 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.