serbaya سرباية
Moroccan Darija · noun
“serbaya” (سرباية) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning waitress (café, restaurant).
Meanings
- waitress (café, restaurant)
- waiting staff (collective)
Usage
Srbaya is the feminine of srbay and refers to a café or restaurant waitress. The same form can also be used as a plural, or as a collective for "the waiting staff". In restaurant reviews, a sentence like "srbaya drayfin" thus means "the waiters are friendly". It is therefore context that tells you whether one person or the whole team is meant. To talk about one's job, one says khddama srbaya. The register is common and neutral.
Example
خدمت تما ستة ديال الشهور سرباية
khdamt tma sta dyal chohor srbaya
“I worked there six months as a waitress.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “serbaya” but also “srbaya”, “sarbaya”, “serbaia” and “srbaia”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.