7rira حريرة

Moroccan Darija · noun

“7rira” (حريرة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning harira, traditional soup.

Meanings

1. harira, traditional soup
2. mess, muddle (figurative)

Usage

7rira is the traditional Moroccan soup, made with tomato, lentils, chickpeas and herbs, and thickened with flour. It is inseparable from breaking the fast during Ramadan, but is also served at festivals or on the morning of a wedding. The word has entered French as is, as "harira". Figuratively, it describes a confusing or tangled situation: "wayni 7rira hadi", what a mess! One can also say that someone "put the 7rira", meaning they sowed confusion. Context always resolves the ambiguity.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7rira” but also “hrira”, “harira” and “7rera”. 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.

Type “7rira” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “thick soup, porridge”: hrira in Tunisian.