ch3ria شعرية
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ch3ria” (شعرية) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning vermicelli, angel hair pasta.
Meanings
- vermicelli, angel hair pasta
- pasta in general
Usage
Ch3riya first means vermicelli, the very thin pasta put in harira or in certain soups. It is also used steamed in seffa, a sweet dish served with cinnamon and powdered sugar. By extension, some people use the word for pasta in general, but for spaghetti or macaroni, words borrowed from French are often heard. It is a collective noun, used in the singular. It should not be confused with the adjective chi3riya ("poetic"), which belongs to Standard Arabic.
Example
تسنّا, راه يالّاه درت لما ل شعرية.
tsenna, rah yallah dert lma l ch3ria.
“Wait, I've just put the water on for the vermicelli.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ch3ria” but also “cha3ria”, “ch3riya”, “che3ria” and “chaaria”. 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.
Type “ch3ria” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “vermicelli, very thin pasta”: chaariya in Tunisian.