kerch كرش
Moroccan Darija · noun
“kerch” (كرش) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning belly, abdomen.
Meanings
- belly, abdomen
- paunch, potbelly
Usage
Kerch is the everyday word for the belly in Morocco. It is often used with a possessive pronoun: kerchi ("my belly"), kerchek ("your belly"). "Kerchi katderrni" means "I have a stomachache". The word also means a paunch: "dar kerch" means "he has developed a belly". The register is colloquial and neutral. In a medical or formal context, batn is sometimes preferred. The plural krouch is rare.
Example
كرشي كاتضرني من الصباح
kerchi katderrni men sba7
“My stomach has been hurting since this morning.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kerch” but also “krch”, “karch” and “kersh”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “kerch” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “belly, stomach”; “womb (in expressions)”: kerch in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “belly”; “paunch, big belly”: karch in Tunisian.