om ام
Tunisian Derja · noun
“om” (ام) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning mother.
Meanings
- mother
- mom (term of address)
Usage
Om (or omm) is the usual word for "mother". It is almost always used with a suffixed pronoun: ommi (my mother), ommek (your mother), omha (her mother), ommou (his mother). To call out to one's mother, people more often say yemma, ommi or mama. Bent omha, "her mother's daughter", means that a girl takes after her mother. Careful: expressions that combine ommek with an insult are very vulgar. Avoid mentioning someone's mother in a joking tone, as it is quickly taken as an insult.
Example
بنت امها هههه
Bent Omha hhhh
“She takes after her mother, haha.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “om” but also “omm”, “oum”, “omi” and “ommi”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “om” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “mother”; “hesitation "um" (interjection)”: oum in Moroccan.