karita كارثة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“karita” (كارثة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning catastrophe, disaster.
Meanings
- catastrophe, disaster
- dreadful thing or situation
Usage
Karita is very common in speech. It refers to a real catastrophe, an earthquake or a flood, but above all, in an exaggerated way, to any botched or unpleasant situation: hadchi karita, "it's a disaster". It is also used for an exam, a match or a meal that went completely wrong. Said of a person, nta karita, the expression describes them as clumsy or unmanageable, often in a joking tone. The th of Standard Arabic is pronounced t. The plural kawarit is rare in colloquial use.
Example
الامتحان كان كارثة
lemti7an kan karita
“The exam was a disaster.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “karita” but also “kaarita”, “karitha” and “karitaa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “karita” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “catastrophe, disaster”; “something or someone awful, useless”: karitha in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “disaster, catastrophe”; “terrible thing or person”: kartha in Tunisian.