masra7iya مسرحية
Moroccan Darija · noun
“masra7iya” (مسرحية) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning play (theatre).
Meanings
- play (theatre)
- act, charade (figurative)
Usage
Masra7iya means a play. You say "tfarrej f masra7iya" for watching a play and "l3ab masra7iya" for performing in one. The plural is masra7iyat. Figuratively and in a colloquial register, the word is used to call out a staged show or an act, for example "hadchi kollo masra7iya", it's all just a performance. The word comes from standard Arabic but is well established in everyday speech. It is often heard in connection with the comic plays broadcast on television during Ramadan.
Example
أش من مسرحية غادي تلعب؟
ach mn masra7iya ghadi tl3ab?
“What play are you going to perform?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “masra7iya” but also “msra7ia”, “masra7ia”, “masrahiya” and “mesra7iya”. 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 “masra7iya” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “theatre play”; “act, staged show (figurative)”: masra7iya in Tunisian.