merqa مرقة

Moroccan Darija · noun

“merqa” (مرقة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning sauce of a stewed dish.

Meanings

1. sauce of a stewed dish
2. broth

Usage

Lmerqa is the sauce of a tajine or other stewed dish, which you scoop up with bread. The word is very common in home cooking. A merqa is described as mzyana, "good", or you have to let it tqell, "reduce". It is not a sauce prepared separately, like a vinaigrette: it is the thickened cooking juice. Gmez f lmerqa, "dip in the sauce", is a typical gesture at a Moroccan meal.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “merqa” but also “mer9a”, “marqa”, “mar9a” and “mergua”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.

Type “merqa” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “stew in sauce”; “sauce of a dish”: mar9a in Tunisian.