kefta كفتة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“kefta” (كفتة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning minced meat.
Meanings
- minced meat
- meatballs or minced-meat skewers
Usage
Kefta refers to minced meat, usually beef or lamb, seasoned with spices and herbs. The word covers both the raw material sold at the butcher's and the dishes made from it: meatballs, grilled skewers, kefta tajine with eggs. The meat is specified with dyal: kefta dyal l-7em, "beef". By extension, one also says kefta dyal l-7out, "fish kefta". At the butcher's, it is ordered by weight: kilo kefta. It is an everyday word with no particular connotation.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kefta” but also “kafta”, “kifta” and “kofta”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “kefta” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “seasoned minced meat”; “meatballs”: kefta in Algerian.