chkara شكارة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“chkara” (شكارة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning bag (plastic, school bag, satchel).
Meanings
- bag (plastic, school bag, satchel)
- money, funding (figurative, moul chkara)
Usage
Chkara means a bag in the broad sense: the plastic shopping bag, a school bag, a satchel or a backpack. The usual plural is chkayer. Figuratively, moul chkara, literally "the one who has the bag", refers to a person who has money and finances a project. In political vocabulary, the expression often targets, pejoratively, a candidate who buys votes. For a handbag, one also hears sac, borrowed from French. The word is feminine: chkara jdida, "a new bag".
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chkara” but also “shkara”, “chkkara” and “chekara”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “chkara” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “bag (plastic, shopping)”; “bag, sack (burlap)”: chkara in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “large sack, canvas or jute bag”; “bag (plastic or paper) in general”: chkara in Tunisian.