bo7ayra بحيرة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“bo7ayra” (بحيرة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning lake.
Meanings
- lake
- vegetable garden, market gardening
Usage
The spellings bo7ayra and bohayra reflect a pronunciation close to Standard Arabic. This is the form used to talk about a lake in geography, in the news, or in the names of sites. In everyday speech, a small lake or body of water is often called daya, which is found in place names such as "Dayet". The darija form b7ira also traditionally means a vegetable garden or a market-gardening plot. To tell which of the two meanings is intended, rely on the pronunciation and the context. The plural is bo7ayrat.
Example
مشينا نتساراو حدا البحيرة
mchina ntsaraw 7da lbo7ayra
“We went for a walk by the lake.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bo7ayra” but also “bohayra”, “bo7aira”, “b7ira” and “bou7ayra”. 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.