9zbour قزبور
Moroccan Darija · noun
“9zbour” (قزبور) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning coriander (fresh or seeds).
Meanings
- coriander (fresh or seeds)
Usage
Qezbour means coriander, an herb found everywhere in Moroccan cooking. It often goes together with parsley (ma3dnous): people say qezbour w ma3dnous for tagines, chermoula, harira or salads. The word covers the fresh plant, bought by the bunch (qbta), as well as the dried seeds. It is used as a collective noun, with no plural. The main pitfall is confusing coriander and parsley, which look very similar at the market. A tip: you can recognize qezbour by its smell.
Example
شري ليا قبطة ديال القزبور
chri lia 9ebta dyal 9zbour
“Buy me a bunch of coriander.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9zbour” but also “9ezbour”, “9zbor”, “9azbour”, “qezbour” and “9ezbor”. 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.