khalifa خليفة

Moroccan Darija · noun

“khalifa” (خليفة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning caliph.

Meanings

1. caliph
2. caid's deputy, local authority agent
3. successor, replacement

Usage

Khalifa first means the caliph, in the historical and religious sense. In Morocco the word also has a common administrative use: the khalifa is the deputy of the caid or the pasha in the territorial administration. You go to him for certain procedures, such as attestations or certificates. More broadly, the word can refer to someone who succeeds or replaces another person. It is also a common first name and surname. Context tells you whether the historical or the administrative sense is meant.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khalifa” but also “5alifa”, “khlifa” and “5lifa”. 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 “khalifa” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “successor, replacement”; “caliph”: khlifa in Algerian.