bouqal بوقال
Moroccan Darija · noun
“bouqal” (بوقال) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning earthenware jug.
Meanings
- earthenware jug
- jar, pot
Usage
The bouqal is a container, traditionally made of earthenware, used to keep water cool or to store foods such as butter, oil or olives. Depending on the region, it is a jug with a handle or a squatter pot. Today the word also applies to a glass jar. The usual plural is bwaqel. The word belongs to the traditional household world. It should not be confused with the bouqala, a divinatory game of poems practiced mostly elsewhere in the Maghreb.
Example
عمر البوقال بالما
3emmer lbouqal b lma
“Fill the jug with water.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bouqal” but also “bou9al”, “boukal” and “bouqqal”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.