3imara عمارة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“3imara” (عمارة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning apartment building, multi-storey building.
Meanings
- apartment building, multi-storey building
- edifice, construction
Usage
3imara mainly refers to a multi-storey residential building, as opposed to a single house (dar) or a villa. You say skent f 3imara (I live in an apartment building) or ttabe9 t-tani f l3imara (the second floor of the building). With the article, it is often pronounced l3imara or l3mara. The usual plural is 3imarat. The word is also used for a large administrative or commercial building, but binaya belongs to a more formal register. City dwellers may also use the French loanword limmeuble.
Example
المهندس سويب البلان ديال عمارة جديدة هربانة
lmohandiss sweb lblan dial 3imara jdida hrbana
“The engineer drew up the plan for a new, really original building.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3imara” but also “3mara”, “3imarat” and “3imaara”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “3imara” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “building, apartment block”: 3mara in Tunisian.
How to say “apartment building” in Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian