9echla قشلة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“9echla” (قشلة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning military barracks.
Meanings
- military barracks
Usage
9echla means a barracks, the place where soldiers are housed. The word is known in Morocco. It is also found in names of neighborhoods or places that once housed barracks. In everyday speech, many speakers also use the French-origin word lcaserna, or a more general phrase like blassa dial l3askar. 9echla has a somewhat old-fashioned, administrative feel. It is used with the article: l9echla. The plural is rare in everyday use.
Example
باه كان خدام فالقشلة
bah kan khddam f l9echla
“His father worked at the barracks.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9echla” but also “qechla” and “kechla”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.