cher9i شرقي
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“cher9i” (شرقي) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning oriental, eastern.
Meanings
- oriental, eastern
- chergui, hot east wind
- Middle Eastern (music, dance)
Usage
Cher9i means "oriental," in a geographic or cultural sense. It is widely used for the arts: "ra9s char9i" (oriental dance), "musique char9iya" (Eastern Arabic music). Used as a noun, "ch-cher9i" means the chergui, the hot, dry wind from the east that blows mostly in summer. The feminine is cher9iya. Do not confuse it with "charki," which comes from the verb charek (to share) and has nothing to do with this word.
Example
رقص شرقي هو لي دارت صاحبتي
ra9s char9i howa lli dart sahbti
“It's an oriental dance that my friend did.”
Forms
| feminine | chr9ia |
|---|---|
| plural | chr9iyin |
| feminine plural | chr9yyat |
Forms as recorded in DODa, in its spelling.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “cher9i” but also “char9i”, “chr9i”, “cherqi” and “chergui”. 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.
Type “cher9i” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “eastern, of the east (geography)”; “oriental, Middle Eastern (music, style)”: char9i in Tunisian.