blad بلاد
Moroccan Darija · noun
“blad” (بلاد) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning country.
Meanings
- country
- homeland, hometown or home region
- place, land
Usage
Blad is the usual word for "country". The plural is bldan. With a possessive, it often takes on an emotional value: bladi, "my country", that is, Morocco for an emigrant. It can also mean one's hometown or home village: rje3 l blado, "he went back home". The informal French word "bled" comes from this sense. The term is not pejorative in darija, unlike "bled" in French. One also says wlad lblad for the people of the country or town.
Example
أشمن بلاد مشيتي؟
lachmn blad mchiti?
“Which country did you go to?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “blad” but also “bled”, “bilad” and “bladi”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “blad” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “country”; “home region or town”: blad in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “country, homeland”; “hometown or home region”: bled in Tunisian.