naghma نغمة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“naghma” (نغمة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning melody, tune.
Meanings
- melody, tune
- phone ringtone
- tone, rhetoric (figurative)
Usage
Naghma first means a tune or melody, and in everyday usage mostly a phone ringtone: "beddel naghmet tilifounek" (change your ringtone). Figuratively, it means the tone or line someone adopts: "naghma jdida", a new line, often with an ironic nuance, as in "hédhi naghma 9dima" (it's the same old song). The word is feminine. It does not mean tone of voice in the sense of volume; for "speak louder", people say "3alli sawtek" instead.
Example
شنية النغمة هذي اللي حاطها في تليفونك؟
chnia en-naghma hedhi elli 7atha fi tilifounek?
“What's that ringtone you put on your phone?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “naghma” but also “na8ma”, “nghama” and “naghmet”. 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.
Type “naghma” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “melody, tune”; “phone ringtone”: nghma in Moroccan.