serwal سروال
Algerian Darja · noun
“serwal” (سروال) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning trousers, pants.
Meanings
- trousers, pants
- sarouel, traditional baggy trousers
Usage
Serwal is the everyday word for "trousers" throughout Algeria, whatever the style: jeans, suit trousers, tracksuit bottoms. It is masculine and used in the singular for a single garment, as in French. The plural is srawel. You say lbes serwal (put on trousers), and serwal djean or serwal kotton to specify the material. The word also refers to the traditional baggy trousers, known in French as "sarouel". Pitfall: in darja, serwal does not refer specifically to this traditional garment. It is the neutral everyday term. Context or a qualifier makes the meaning clear.
Example
شريت سروال جديد للعرس.
chrit serwal jdid l'3ers.
“I bought new trousers for the wedding.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “serwal” but also “sarwal”, “seroual”, “sirwal” and “srwal”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “serwal” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “trousers, pants”; “traditional baggy trousers”: srwal in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “trousers, pants”; “traditional baggy trousers”: serwel in Tunisian.