ma7alli محلّي
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“ma7alli” (محلّي) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning local, of the region.
Meanings
- local, of the region
Usage
Ma7alli describes what is specific to a place or produced on the spot: local products, teams or authorities. The word comes from written language and the media and keeps a somewhat formal register. In conversation, for a locally produced item, people more readily say beldi, as in "djaj beldi", "free-range chicken", or dyal lblad. The feminine is ma7alliya. It is often heard in phrases such as "sl3a ma7alliya" or "ljama3at lma7alliya", which refers to local authorities.
Example
واش كاين نبيد محلي بشكال خاص؟
wach kayn nabid ma7ali bchkal khaS?
“Is there a particularly local wine?”
Forms
| feminine | ma7llia |
|---|---|
| plural | ma7lliyin |
| feminine plural | ma7llyat |
Forms as recorded in DODa, in its spelling.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ma7alli” but also “ma7ali”, “mahalli”, “m7alli”, “mahali” and “ma7lli”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.