l3acher لعاشر
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“l3acher” (لعاشر) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning tenth.
Meanings
- tenth
Usage
Lʿacher is the ordinal "tenth", preceded by the article l-. It usually comes after the noun: nhar lʿacher (the tenth day), or is used alone: howa lʿacher (he is tenth). The feminine is lʿachra. Beyond ten, darija prefers the cardinal preceded by rqem, or a construction with the noun, and ordinals become rare. For dates, one rather says ʿachra f… with the cardinal.
Example
جا لعاشر فالسباق
ja l3acher f sbaq
“He came tenth in the race.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “l3acher” but also “l3achr”, “l3ashr” and “la3cher”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.