chicha شيشة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“chicha” (شيشة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning hookah, shisha.
Meanings
- hookah, shisha
Usage
Chicha means the hookah, the water pipe usually smoked in a café or among friends. The word is in common use in Morocco, especially among young people and in urban settings. The usual verb is kmi ("to smoke"): kayekmi chicha, "he smokes shisha". One also hears chedd chicha. The expression café chicha refers to an establishment that serves it. The word often has a leisure connotation, sometimes frowned upon in families. It is pronounced as in French, with ch at the start and the end. For the plural, people often say chichat or keep the invariable form.
Example
كنمشيو نكميو شيشة فالويكاند
kanmchiw nkmiw chicha f lweekend
“We're going to smoke shisha at the weekend.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chicha” but also “shisha”, “chisha” and “shicha”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “chicha” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “hookah, shisha”: chicha in Tunisian.