khalfia خلفية
Moroccan Darija · noun
“khalfia” (خلفية) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning background (image, music).
Meanings
- background (image, music)
- wallpaper
- background, past of a person
Usage
Khalfia is a feminine noun of standard Arabic origin, well established in darija in certain contexts. It is used mainly for what is behind or in the background of an image, a video or a scene: khalfia mosi9ia (background music), khalfia dyal tswira (the background of the photo). It is also used for a phone's wallpaper. In a more formal, media-like register, it refers to someone's background or career, for example khalfia siyasiya. In everyday conversation, for a wallpaper, many speakers prefer the French word "fond".
Example
مع خلفية موسيقية زوينة بزاف
m3a khalfia mosi9ia zwina bzaf
“With very nice background music.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khalfia” but also “khlfia”, “khelfia”, “khalfiya” and “5alfia”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khalfia” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “background, backdrop”; “background, (political) leaning”: 5alfiya in Tunisian.