ferda فردة

Moroccan Darija · noun

“ferda” (فردة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning one item of a pair.

Meanings

1. one item of a pair
2. single shoe or sock

Usage

Ferda refers to a single item of something that normally comes in twos: a shoe, a sock, an earring, a glove. It is mostly used in the construct form: ferdet sebbat (one shoe), ferdet tqacher (one sock). The word is often used to say that one is missing: "ma lqitch ferda khra" (I didn't find the other one). An English speaker might associate it with "pair", but it refers precisely to the odd single item, not the whole. The register is common, informal and everyday.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ferda” but also “frda” and “farda”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “ferda” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “one item of a pair (shoe, sock)”; “one's match, counterpart (in the expression)”: ferda in Algerian.

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “one of a pair (shoe, sock)”: farda in Tunisian.

How to say “one of a pair” in Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian