sifara سفارة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“sifara” (سفارة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning embassy.
Meanings
- embassy
Usage
Sifara means the embassy, a country's diplomatic mission. It is a word of learned origin but common in conversation, especially in phrases like "sifarat fransa" (the French embassy) or "mchit l sifara." For visa procedures, "l9onsoliya" (the consulate) is often mentioned too. Beware of confusion with sfara, pronounced almost the same, which means "whistle" and is normally written with an emphatic ṣ. Online, the two words are sometimes written the same way. Context makes it possible to tell them apart.
Example
مشيت للسفارة باش نجيب الفيزا
mchit l sifara bach njib lviza
“I went to the embassy to get the visa.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “sifara” but also “sefara”, “sfara” and “safara”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “sifara” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “embassy”: sefara in Tunisian.