kar كار
Moroccan Darija · noun
“kar” (كار) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning coach, intercity bus.
Meanings
- coach, intercity bus
- bus (in general)
Usage
Kar is a borrowing from French "car". It mainly refers to the coach that links cities; the city bus is rather called tobis. You say chedd l-kar, "take the coach", and the bus station is m7atta dyal l-kiran. The plural is kiran. Do not confuse it with English car ("automobile"): a car is tomobil or tonobil. In arabizi writing, the spelling car is common, which can mislead a French or English reader.
Example
واش داخل شي كار؟
wach dakhl chi kar
“Is there a coach arriving?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kar” but also “car” and “kiran”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “kar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “coach, intercity bus”; “bus”: kar in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “coach, intercity bus”; “city bus”: car in Tunisian.