m93ad مقعد
Moroccan Darija · noun
“m93ad” (مقعد) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning seat.
Meanings
- seat
- bench, public seat
Usage
M93ad refers to a seat or a place to sit, especially in a vehicle, a hall or a public place: lm93ad lqoddami "the front seat". It is also used for a seat in an institution, such as a seat in parliament. For an ordinary chair at home, people usually say korsi, and for a bench, banka. M93ad is therefore a little more general or administrative. The plural is m9a3ed. The 3 marks the "ʿayn" sound and the 9 marks the "q" sound.
Example
كاين شي مقعد خاوي فالكار؟
kayn chi m93ad khawi f lkar?
“Is there a free seat on the bus?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m93ad” but also “m93ed”, “ma93ad”, “mq3ad” and “me93ad”. 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; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.