pikala بيكالا
Moroccan Darija · noun
“pikala” (بيكالا) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning bicycle, bike.
Meanings
- bicycle, bike
Usage
Pikala is the everyday word for a bicycle in Morocco, in all regions and all social settings. It is a feminine noun: you say "pikala zwina" (a nice bike) and refer back to it with "biha". "Rkeb 3la pikala" or "rkeb f pikala" means to ride a bike or to get on a bike. The most common plural is "pikalat". The word also covers children's bikes. For a moped or scooter, other words are used, such as "motor". The initial p is often pronounced b, hence the spelling bikala.
Example
واكس أسات نشريو شي بيكالا نبقى نمشيو بيها
wax asat nchriw chi bikala nb9a nmchiw biha
“What if we buy a bike and keep getting around on it?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “pikala” but also “bikala”, “picala”, “bicala” and “pykala”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.