mqelma مقلمة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“mqelma” (مقلمة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning school pencil case.
Meanings
- school pencil case
- pencil box
Usage
A school vocabulary word, known to every schoolchild in Morocco. It refers to the case in which you keep pens, pencils, an eraser and a pencil sharpener, whether it is made of fabric or plastic, or to the rigid pencil box. It is used mostly with the article: lmeqlma, and the possessive is formed with dyal (lmeqlma dyali) or with a suffix (meqlemti). It appears on school supply lists and at home when packing the school bag. In conversation, many Moroccans also say "trousse", borrowed from French. The two coexist: meqlma sounds a little more school-related and Arabic.
Example
نسيت المقلمة ديالي فالقسم.
nsit lmeqlma dyali f lqism.
“I forgot my pencil case in class.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mqelma” but also “meqlma”, “mqlma”, “mi9lma” and “m9elma”. 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.