masra7 مسرح
Moroccan Darija · noun
“masra7” (مسرح) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning theatre (art form, venue).
Meanings
- theatre (art form, venue)
- stage
Usage
Masra7 means the theatre, either as an art form or as a building, and sometimes the stage itself. The word comes from Standard Arabic and is in common use in darija in this cultural sense. Figuratively, a chaotic or comic situation is compared to theatre. In arabizi, beware of the homograph msere7 (participle of sra7), which means lying down, stretched out or left free. This word is written the same way in Arabic but pronounced differently. Context almost always settles it: "knt msere7" means "I was lying down," not "I was at the theatre."
Example
أنا مقتانعا بلي عائلتنا فاش كيتجمعو كيوليو بحا شي فرقة ديالك مسرح
ana m9tan3a bli 3a2iltna fach kitjm3ou kiweliw b7a chi fr9a diak mesra7
“I'm convinced that when our family gets together, we turn into something like a theatre troupe.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “masra7” but also “masrah”, “mesra7”, “msra7”, “msre7” and “msr7”. 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.
Type “masra7” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “theatre (dramatic art)”; “theatre building”: masra7 in Tunisian.