7arfiyan حرفيّا
Moroccan Darija · adverb
“7arfiyan” (حرفيّا) is an adverb in Moroccan Darija meaning literally.
Meanings
- literally
- word for word
Usage
7arfiyan comes from standard Arabic and is commonly used in darija, especially among young people and on social media. It has two uses. It can mean "word for word", for example for a translation or an exact quotation. It is also used, as in casual French, to reinforce a statement: "literally, it was packed". It is often placed at the start of a sentence, set off by a comma. The register stays slightly formal, but everyone understands the word.
Example
حرفيّا, لباب ديالو مسدود
7rfyyan, lbab dyalo msdoud
“Literally, his door is closed.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7arfiyan” but also “7arfian”, “7erfian” and “7arfyan”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.