jelsa جلسة

Moroccan Darija · noun

“jelsa” (جلسة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning gathering, time spent together.

Meanings

1. gathering, time spent together
2. session (treatment, court, work)
3. way of sitting

Usage

In everyday conversation, often pronounced gelsa, the word refers to time spent together over tea or a meal: gelsa zwina, "a nice evening". In a more formal or administrative register, jalsa is used instead: a physiotherapy session, a work meeting or a court hearing. It can also refer to the way someone sits. In the sense of an "evening with friends", the word does not have the institutional weight of French "séance".

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “jelsa” but also “gelsa”, “jlsa”, “jalsa” and “glsa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “jelsa” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “session, sitting, hearing”; “get-together among friends”: jalsa in Tunisian.