# All dialects: sheet (bed)



## Hemza

Hello,

How do you call a sheet in other dialects?

In Morocco, we call it إِزار (other words may be used but I only know this one).

Thank you.


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## tounsi51

Drap housse in TA   (إِزار  is a type of curtain in Tunisia)


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## Hemza

You don't make a difference between "un drap" and "un drap housse"?  Even in French, it is not the same


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## tounsi51

Le drap housse c'est pas le bed sheet?

If not, sheet we call it ملحفة


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## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> Le drap housse c'est pas le bed sheet?



Le drap housse is the one on which one lies down. Le drap is the one which covers you. My question concerns the one which covers you. But do you make a difference between both in Arabic? I think in Morocco, both are called ازار

 (ملحفة is a woman dress in Morocco, mostly bedouin).


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## tounsi51

I revised above, we call the sheet ملحفة  and bed sheet "drap housse" en roulant le r lol


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## apricots

In PA شَرْشَف ج شَرَاشِف


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## djara

Hemza said:


> Le drap housse is the one on which one lies down.


Not all sheets on which you lie down are "drap housse". It is a bed sheet with an elastic at the corners so that it fits the mattress. It's called fitted bed sheet in English. Here is the French definition: "Drap dont les coins sont munis d'élastiques qui enveloppe un matelas."
This being said, I confirm that in TA no distinction is made between the lower and the upper bed sheets. Both are ملحفة. Except, obviously, when French is used as Tounsi already said.


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## Hemza

djara said:


> Not all sheets on which you lie down are "drap housse". Here is the French definition: "Drap dont les coins sont munis d'élastiques qui enveloppe un matelas."



My bad, you're right. When I said that le drap housse is the one on which one lies down, I was talking about the one which bears elastics but my question in the first place didn't concern this kind of sheet, I rather meant any sheet made of a textile which is used to cover oneself, but I noticed that until now, no one makes a distinction between both (lexically).



> This being said, I confirm that in TA no distinction is made between the lower and the upper bed sheets. Both are ملحفة. Except, obviously, when French is used as Tounsi already said.



Same in Morocco I think, both are called ازار.



apricots said:


> In PA شَرْشَف ج شَرَاشِف



Thanks . Never heard this word.


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## cherine

In EA, the one we sleep on is melaaya مِلاية (the MSA is مِلاءَة, plural ملاءات) the thin cover is koverta كوفرتة in some cities and kebertaaya كبرتاية in others, and the thicker/heavier one is le7aaf لحاف (plural le7efa/el7efa لحفة/إلحفة).


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## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> Same in Morocco I think, both are called ازار.


In casablanca we call the fitted sheet كوفرلي ''couverly '' ,the upper one is غطا ..it could be ازار or any type of fabrics .


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## Hemza

I know about غطا which is used for the thick upper one (while I would use ازار for any thing which is thin). I never heard كوفرلي (couvre-lit  )


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## analeeh

I'm pretty sure in Syrian شرشف is the thing that covers the bed and لحاف or حرام is blanket. A duvet is بطانية.


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic:

شرشف is the thin sheet you sleep on.
حرام is a slightly thicker sheet/blanket you cover yourself with.
بطّانية is a regional word for "blanket."
لحاف is a comforter/duvet.


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## Mahaodeh

In Iraq it's also شرشف, however, it's pronounced: charchaf.

On a side note, I visited Aleppo about 20 years ago, there I met a Syrian woman (a friend's mother) and while we were chatting the conversation led to mentioning sheets. I do recall distinctly that she pronounced it the Iraqi way, which surprised me. I know for sure that she is from Aleppo not from Eastern Syria nor from any other part of Syria; and she had lived there all her life. Now I don't know whether it's pronounced the same way in all of Syria or whether there are regional differences, or maybe it's just that woman.


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## elroy

Mahaodeh said:


> it's pronounced: charchaf


 Do you mean it's pronounced تشرتشف?


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## analeeh

It's quite common in Aleppo for Turkish pronunciations to be used - _çarşaf_ (charshaf) is one, _çay_ (_chaay_) is another famous one. Not sure off the top of my head if there are any others.


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> Do you mean it's pronounced تشرتشف?



Yes.


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## Hemza

Thank you all for your replies.

Any Algerian here? I think it's different from Moroccan but I don't know how they call it.

Any other input is of course more than welcome (Arabian peninsula, Sudan, Chad etc).

I learnt that بطانية used to be used in Morocco but I never heard it now (one of the Turkish words used in the dialect which is disappearing like دوغري).


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## momai

For me a بطانية is غطا صوف.


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## Hemza

momai said:


> For me a بطانية is غطا صوف.



This was the meaning implied in Morocco but I think many people currently call it غطا which is the general word for a cover (and not sheet, sorry)


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## Hemza

*Edit:* I came about this thread randomly and I would like to add that actually بطانية is used in Morocco, when I was there last December, I heard our neighbour saying it but it's not any kind of blanket, it's a thick and heavy one made of wool (or something close).


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## fenakhay

مانطة، غطا، كاشة، بطانية، إزار are all types of blankets.


غطا is any blanket.
كاشة and مانطة are any thick and light blanket. Like this one : 



بطانية, as you said, is a thick and heavy blanket mostly made of wool. Like this one : 


إزار is a really thin and soft sheet. Mostly used in the summer.


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## wriight

Anyone say حاف for لحاف? I used to think that was it for the longest time, and I've accidentally run into two other people who thought so as well. It comes from confusion caused by applying أل التعريف to the pronunciation لْحاف (because the resulting اللْحاف sounds the same as الحاف would), but I don't know how common it is overall.

Besides that, I think a شرشف is any kind of thin cloth sheet for us (it works for both blankets and fitted sheets), a حْرِام is a thin-ish fleece blanket, and a لحاف is a comforter or anything similarly thick -- we don't use بطانية. The word حْرِام is pronounced بكسر الألف أي بالإمالة because of the effect of the kasrah that was originally on the ح.

What's the plural of لحاف for everyone, by the way? I remember a book giving its plural in some Levantine variety as تِلحفِة, but I think I'd personally just go with لحافات.


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## fenakhay

لحاف (l7āf) is a comforter in Morocco, mostly in the living room on تلامط. 




wriight said:


> What's the plural of لحاف for everyone, by the way?


لحايف (l7āyif).


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## elroy

wriight said:


> Anyone say حاف for لحاف?


I think a child might. 
(You do know that حاف means something else, right?)


wriight said:


> What's the plural of لحاف for everyone, by the way?


لُحُف (_luḥof_)


fenakhay said:


> لحاف (l7āf) is a comforter in Morocco, mostly in the living room on تلامط.


تلامط = couches/sofas?

“comforter” in English is only a thick cover used for sleeping.  Based on your image, it sounds like you may be talking about a “throw (blanket).”


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## Hemza

fenakhay said:


> مانطة، غطا، كاشة، بطانية، إزار are all types of blankets.


I knew ازار, غطا, بطانية but I never heard the others, thank you.


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## akhooha

In Egypt, I believe a bedsheet is called ملاية (milaaya)


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## wriight

elroy said:


> I think a child might.


Checks out in my case, then 



elroy said:


> (You do know that حاف means something else, right?)


I can only think of حاف / حافي "barefoot"?



elroy said:


> لُحُف (_luḥof_)


Ohhh. Yeah, it's لِحِف _le7ef _for us as well. لحافات just came to mind first because of how little I have to use it...


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## elroy

حافي = barefoot 
حاف = “with nothing else,” as in أكلت خبزة حاف (“I just ate a piece of bread with nothing else”)


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> “comforter” in English is only a thick cover used for sleeping.  Based on your image, it sounds like you may be talking about a “throw (blanket).”


We use لحاف today for a comforter or duvet, but a better translation for لحاف is quilt. Until I was teenager a لحاف referred to quilt exclusively, like this:



Then by the 80s the new lightweight versions became common.

If you notice the sofa, the throw is quilted and very likely stuffed, perhaps with a very thin layer of cotton or something synthetic. I can see the relationship with our traditional لحاف.


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## tarik45

elroy said:


> حافي = barefoot
> حاف = “with nothing else,” as in أكلت خبزة حاف (“I just ate a piece of bread with nothing else”)


Sorry to re-open this old thread but I just found this funny because in my dialect, it’s the other way around. 

We say: كليت خبز حافي and مشيت بالحفى


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## Mahaodeh

tarik45 said:


> Sorry to re-open this old thread but I just found this funny because in my dialect, it’s the other way around.


I’m not sure it is.

الحفى is the مصدر of حَفِيَ يَحْفى so the use is correct and very close to الفصحى. The اسم فاعل would be حافي.

However, كليت خبز بالحافي might be a distortion of بالحافِّ. The root of حاف for “with nothing else” is ح ف ف so the اسم فاعل is actually حافّ with no ياء. So I’m guessing it’s probably the same origin but as in many other words, they can get distorted with time and start to sound identical to completely different ones.


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## Hemza

Mahaodeh said:


> كليت خبز بالحافي


Unless I misunderstood your point, he said كليت خبز *حافي *and not بالحافي.


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## Mahaodeh

Oh, did he? Did I quote incorrectly or did he edit his post?

Frankly I can’t remember.


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## Hemza

No he didn't edit his post


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