m3rifa معرفة

Moroccan Darija · noun

“m3rifa” (معرفة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning acquaintance (person you know).

Meanings

1. acquaintance (person you know)
2. connections, string-pulling
3. knowledge

Usage

In darija, m3rifa refers above all to a person you know: "3endi m3rifa f lbaladiya" (I know someone at the town hall). From this comes the very common sense of string-pulling. "Dkhel b lm3rifa" or "ghir m3rifa" means someone got a place through connections, not merit. This sense is often critical, especially regarding jobs, sport or administration. The abstract sense of "knowledge" exists, but it belongs to a more formal register, close to Standard Arabic. The plural m3arf refers to one's connections in general.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m3rifa” but also “ma3rifa”, “m3rfa” and “me3rifa”. 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.

Type “m3rifa” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “knowledge, awareness”; “acquaintance, person one knows”: ma3rifa in Algerian.