khoffach خفّاش
Moroccan Darija · noun
“khoffach” (خفّاش) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning bat.
Meanings
- bat
Usage
The word khoffach refers to the bat. Its form is very close to Standard Arabic, but it is understood and commonly used in Morocco. It is mostly met in conversations about animals, caves or old houses, and in cartoons and documentaries. The plural is khfafech. It is masculine. For an English speaker, the first pitfall is the doubled f, often written ff, which is kept in pronunciation. The second is the vowel of the first syllable, which is short and sometimes reduced (khffach). It is not to be confused with the ordinary bird, tir.
Example
كاين شي خفّاش ف السطح
kayn chi khoffach f sstaH
“There's a bat on the roof terrace.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khoffach” but also “khffach”, “5offach”, “5ofach” and “khofach”. 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.