bolis بوليس
Moroccan Darija · noun
“bolis” (بوليس) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning the police.
Meanings
- the police
- police officers (collective)
Usage
The word bolis, borrowed from French and fully integrated, is the most common term for the police. It is often said with the article (lbolis), or after chi to talk about unspecified police officers: chi bolis, "some police officers". It refers both to the institution and to the officers taken collectively. For a single officer, say bolisi. In a more allusive register, you also hear lmakhzen, which refers more broadly to the authorities. Common expression: 3iyet 3la lbolis, "call the police".
Example
أش دانا لشي بوليس
ach dana lchi boulis
“What possessed us to go to the police?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bolis” but also “boulis”, “boliss” and “bouliss”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “bolis” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “police (the institution)”; “police officer”: boulis in Tunisian.