saya صايا
Moroccan Darija · noun
“saya” (صايا) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning skirt.
Meanings
- skirt
Usage
Saya means a skirt, whatever its length. It is the usual word in Morocco, and it can be specified if needed: saya twila ("long skirt"), saya 9siira ("short skirt"). The noun is feminine; the usual plural is sayat. It is written with either a final alif or a ta marbouta, and both spellings are equally valid. It is used in everyday clothing vocabulary, for example when shopping or sewing. It has no particular figurative meaning.
Example
شريت صايا جديدة
chrit saya jdida
“I bought a new skirt.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “saya” but also “sayaa” and “sayya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find صايا and صاية, all the same word.