bo93a بقعة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“bo93a” (بقعة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning stain, spot.
Meanings
- stain, spot
- place, corner, plot
Usage
Bo93a first means a stain on a garment, a wall or the skin: "tla7et liya bo93a f l-qamija" (I got a stain on my shirt). By extension, the word can mean a specific spot or a small plot of land, a sense closer to Standard Arabic and rarer in speech. The usual plural is bqa3. For a stubborn stain, people often specify "bo93a d z-zit" (oil stain) or "bo93a d l-qahwa". Watch the pronunciation: the initial vowel is short, often written "o" or "u".
Example
عندك بقعة فالقميجة
3ndek bo93a f l-qamija
“You have a stain on your shirt.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bo93a” but also “bu93a”, “bou93a” and “bouq3a”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.