mlaya ملايا
Moroccan Darija · noun
“mlaya” (ملايا) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning bed sheet.
Meanings
- bed sheet
- light blanket
Usage
The word mlaya first denotes the piece of cloth spread over the bed or used to cover oneself: the sheet, sometimes a light blanket. For a thick winter blanket, manta or bourrabiya is used instead. It is heard in domestic-life phrases: changing the sheets, washing the mlaya, covering oneself with it. With the article, it is lmlaya. The common plural is mlayat. The pitfall is to translate it systematically as "blanket": depending on the region and the family, the word mainly refers to the sheet. It belongs to the familiar, everyday register.
Example
بدّلي الملايا راها موسخة
beddli lmlaya raha mwesskha
“Change the sheet, it's dirty.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mlaya” but also “mlaia”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.