sfaya صفاية
Moroccan Darija · noun
“sfaya” (صفاية) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning strainer, colander, filter.
Meanings
- strainer, colander, filter
Usage
Sfaya is the kitchen utensil used for draining or filtering: pasta colander, small tea strainer, filter. The word is related to the verb sffa, which means "to filter" or "to drain", for example sffi latay ("strain the tea"). It is common in daily life and in family cooking. It is also used figuratively, informally, to speak of someone who retains nothing or of something full of holes. The plural is sfayat.
Example
جيب الصفاية نصفي المقارونية
jib ssfaya nsffi lmakaroniya
“Bring the strainer so I can drain the pasta.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sfaya” but also “ssfaya” and “sfaia”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.