yennayer يناير
Moroccan Darija · noun
“yennayer” (يناير) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning January.
Meanings
- January
- Amazigh New Year (Yennayer)
Usage
In Morocco, the months of the Gregorian calendar have names of Latin origin: yennayer, febrayer, mars, abril, etc. Yennayer is therefore the usual name for January in conversation, more frequent than kanoun t-tani, which is specific to the Middle East. You say f yennayer (in January). The word also refers to the Amazigh New Year, celebrated in January with traditional dishes. It is then called 3id yennayer or ras l-3am amazigh. In Arabic script the word is often written يناير; in Latin script, spellings vary a lot.
Example
تزاد ف يناير
tzad f yennayer
“He was born in January.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “yennayer” but also “yanayir”, “yanayr” and “yennayr”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.