zyara زيارة

Moroccan Darija · noun

“zyara” (زيارة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning visit (to someone, a patient).

Meanings

1. visit (to someone, a patient)
2. pious visit to a shrine

Usage

Ziyara first means paying a visit to someone: a relative, a friend, a patient in hospital. People say "mša f ziyara" (he went on a visit) or "ja f ziyara", and the corresponding verb is zar (to visit). The word also refers to a pious visit to a saint's tomb or to a cemetery, as well as to the visiting hours of a hospital or prison. The register is neutral and common, in speech and in writing. Careful: ziyara is not used for a tourist visit to a city or museum. In that case, people say "tsara f…" or "dar dora" instead.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “zyara” but also “ziyara” and “ziara”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “zyara” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “visit (to a person, a place)”; “pious visit to a saint”: ziyara in Algerian.

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “visit”; “pilgrimage to a saint's shrine”: zyara in Tunisian.

How to say “visit” in Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian