لما الأكل والبيتزا تجينا البيت

What does the Arabic suffix “-جي” (-gi) mean?

The song in this clip celebrates the بيتزاجية — the pizza-delivery guys. The word is a joyful hybrid: Italian pizza plus -جي, a suffix Arabic borrowed from Ottoman Turkish -ci that turns a thing into the person who works with it. Once you spot -جي, Egyptian Arabic opens up: قهوجي (coffee server), مكوجي (the ironing man), سفرجي (waiter).

The suffix survives from centuries of Ottoman administration and still coins new words — بيتزاجي being modern proof the pattern is alive. Not all its children are flattering: بلطجي, originally an axe-man, is now the standard word for “thug.” In the song you hear the plural البيتزاجات chanted over and over as the food arrives: الأكل يجيه — “the food comes to him.”