dif ضيف
Moroccan Darija · noun
“dif” (ضيف) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning guest, person being hosted.
Meanings
- guest, person being hosted
Usage
Dif refers to a person you receive at your home. The plural, very frequent, is dyaf. You say "3endna dyaf" (we have guests), "dif lah" (God's guest, said of a traveller or a stranger passing through), and "mrehba bdif" to welcome someone. The word never refers to the person doing the hosting: dif applies only to the person being received. It is related to dyafa (hospitality) and to the verb dyyef (to receive, to offer food to a guest).
Example
راه ضيف جايين
rah dyaf jayin
“The guests are coming.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dif” but also “dyf”, “deyf” and “daif”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “dif” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “guest, person received as a host's visitor”: dif in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “guest, person received in one's home”; “passing visitor, traveller taken in”: dhif in Tunisian.