zreq زرق
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“zreq” (زرق) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning blue.
Meanings
- blue
- blue-eyed (person)
Usage
Zreq is the color adjective "blue". It agrees in gender and number: zerqa in the feminine, zorq in the plural. Like other color adjectives, it follows the noun (stilo zreq, "a blue pen"). Applied to a person, it often means "blue-eyed". For shades, you add a qualifier, for example zreq fate7 (light blue) or zreq meghluq (dark blue). Pitfall for an English speaker: the form changes with gender and number, so you must say sebbat zreq but tomobil zerqa.
Example
عطيني ستيلو زرق
3tini stilo zr9
“Give me a blue pen.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “zreq” but also “zre9”, “zr9”, “zra9” and “zraq”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “zreq” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “blue (plural)”: zor9 in Tunisian.