3omla عملة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“3omla” (عملة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning currency.
Meanings
- currency
Usage
3omla refers to a currency in the economic sense: the dirham, the euro, the dollar. It is used when talking about exchange, money transfers or the economy, for example 3omla sa3ba for "hard currency". For money in general, people say flouss. For small change, coins, people say sarf or sarfa instead. For an English speaker, the trap is to use 3omla for "change" given back at the till: that is not how it is used. The word is quite common among people in the diaspora who change euros into dirhams.
Example
عمرك تحوّل فلوسك لشي عملة تايحا
3emrek t 7ewwel floussek lchi 3omla tay7a
“Never convert your money into a currency that is falling.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3omla” but also “3oumla”, “3umla” and “omla”. 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 “3omla” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “deed, stunt, blunder committed”; “currency”: 3amla in Tunisian.