markaz مركز
Moroccan Darija · noun
“markaz” (مركز) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning centre (place, establishment).
Meanings
- centre (place, establishment)
- station, post (police, health)
Usage
Markaz refers mainly to an establishment or a place providing a service. You say markaz dyal ttakwin for a training centre and markaz sse77i for a health centre. Lmarkaz dyal lbolis means the police station. The word comes from Standard Arabic but is well established in everyday use. In town, you also hear santr, borrowed from French, for the town centre. Be careful with the form mrekkez, written with the same letters. It is a participle from the same root and means "focused": rani mrekkez, "I'm focused". Context and pronunciation tell the two apart.
Example
غادي نمشي للمركز ديال التكوين
ghadi nmchi l lmarkaz dyal ttakwin
“I'm going to go to the training centre.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “markaz” but also “merkez”, “markz”, “mrkz”, “merkaz” and “merkz”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “markaz” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “centre (facility, institution)”; “focused, concentrating (mrakkez)”: markaz in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “centre, institution”; “police station”: markez in Tunisian.