3sfour عصفور
Moroccan Darija · noun
“3sfour” (عصفور) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning small bird, sparrow.
Meanings
- small bird, sparrow
- bird (in general)
Usage
3sfour refers to a small bird, typically the sparrow. The plural is 3safer. To talk about a bird in general, people also use tir or ttyour (the birds). 3sfour suggests the small songbirds seen in towns or kept in cages. The word is sometimes used as a term of endearment for a child. It appears in figurative expressions about lightness or smallness, for example to say that someone eats very little.
Example
كاين واحد العصفور فوق الشجرة
kayn wa7d l3sfour fo9 chejra
“There is a little bird on the tree.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3sfour” but also “3asfour”, “3osfor”, “3sfor” and “asfour”. 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 “3sfour” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “bird, small bird”: 3asfour in Tunisian.