ard أرض

Moroccan Darija · noun

“ard” (أرض) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning floor, ground.

Meanings

1. floor, ground
2. land, plot
3. the Earth

Usage

Ard, almost always pronounced with the article (l-ard, often heard as lerd), first means the ground or the tiled floor of a house. You find it in "chetteb l-ard" (sweep the floor), "sseyyeq l-ard" (wash the floor) and "f l-ard" (on the floor). It also means land or a plot that someone owns or farms, for example "chra ard", he bought a plot of land. More rarely, it means the planet. The word is feminine. For building land, the word terrain is also heard.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ard” but also “2ard”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop.

Type “ard” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “ground, floor”; “land, plot”: ard in Algerian.

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “land, plot”; “ground, floor”: ardh in Tunisian.