chita شيتا
Moroccan Darija · noun
“chita” (شيتا) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning brush.
Meanings
- brush
- clothes or shoe brush
Usage
Chita refers to a brush in general: hairbrush, clothes brush, shoe brush or cleaning brush. The use is specified by a complement: chitat snan ("toothbrush"), chita dyal s-sbbat ("shoe brush"). The word is common in domestic life. It is written either with alif or with a final ta marbouta. Be careful not to confuse it with chyata ("leftovers, surplus"), which looks similar in arabizi. The usual plural is chitat.
Example
عطيني الشيتة نمسح صباطي
3tini ch-chita nmse7 sbbati
“Hand me the brush so I can wipe my shoes.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chita” but also “shita”, “cheeta” and “chitta”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find شيتا and شيتة, all the same word.
Type “chita” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
The same word also exists in Algerian Darja, written شيتة, where it means “brush”; “flattery, sucking up (figurative)”: chita in Algerian.