Colors in Moroccan Arabic: Full List With Pronunciation

Why Colors Are an Easy Win

Colors are some of the most useful words you'll learn in Darija — you'll use them for clothes, cars, food, and describing pretty much anything. The good news: most Darija colors follow a simple pattern, so once you learn a handful, the rest click into place fast.

The Core Colors

Notice limouni (orange) literally comes from "lemon" and 9ehwi (brown) comes from "9ehwa" (coffee) — Darija color words are often borrowed straight from everyday things, which makes them easier to remember than they look at first glance.

Colors Change Shape — Just Like Adjectives

Here's the part that trips people up: most basic colors (7mr, zr9, k7l, etc.) are actually adjectives, and Darija adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe, the same way kbir (big) does.

So "the red car" (la voiture, feminine in form) becomes الطوموبيل الحمرة — TTumubil l7amra — using the feminine form, not the plain 7mr you'd use for a masculine noun like lktab l7mer (the red book).

This pattern repeats for most core colors: masculine, feminine (usually add -a), and plural (often a vowel shift). It's the same logic covered in more depth in our Color Adjective Agreement grammar lesson — worth a look once these ten colors feel comfortable.

Using Colors in a Sentence

• bghit lqamija zr9a — I want the blue shirt
• 3ndi tomobil khdra — I have a green car
• chri liya chi 7aja k7la — buy me something black

Practice These Colors for Real

Reading a list is one thing — actually recalling zr9 the moment you see something blue is another. Drill these ten colors (plus the gender agreement pattern) with spaced repetition on MocroDarija: create your free account to start with the colors deck, or look up any color or object in the Darija dictionary. Next time you're describing what you're wearing or pointing at something in a souk, you'll have the word ready.