ghrab غراب
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ghrab” (غراب) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning crow, raven.
Meanings
- crow, raven
Usage
Ghrab means the black bird, crow or raven, with everyday usage making no distinction between the two. The most commonly heard plural is ghirban. The word is used literally, but also in comparisons or remarks about the color black or an unpleasant cry. As in other cultures, the bird can be associated with bad omens in popular speech. With the article, you say lghrab. In arabizi, gh stands for a sound close to the French guttural r. Do not confuse it with gharb, "west", or with ghrib, "foreign, strange".
Example
كاين واحد الغراب فوق الشجرة
kayn wahed lghrab fouq ch-chejra
“There is a crow up in the tree.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghrab” but also “ghorab”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “ghrab” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “crow, raven”; “bearer of bad luck”: ghrab in Tunisian.