zebda زبدة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“zebda” (زبدة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning butter.
Meanings
- butter
- spread (preparation)
Usage
Zebda refers to butter, eaten at breakfast with bread, msemmen or harcha. A distinction is often made between "zebda beldiya", fresh homemade butter obtained by churning milk, and industrial butter bought in blocks. Zebda should not be confused with smen, clarified, salted and aged butter, used to flavour couscous and tajines. The word is used as a mass noun, without an article for an indefinite quantity: "jib zebda", "bring some butter". With dyal, it can refer to a preparation for spreading.
Example
كاينا عندك زبدة؟
kayna 3ndk zebda?
“Do you have any butter?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “zebda” but also “zbda” and “zabda”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “zebda” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “butter”; “gist, essence (of a story)”: zebda in Tunisian.