7lib حليب
Algerian Darja · noun
“7lib” (حليب) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning milk.
Meanings
- milk
Usage
7lib refers to fresh milk, the kind you drink or put in coffee. The pitfall for an English speaker: lben is not a synonym; it refers to fermented milk (buttermilk), served notably with couscous or galette. One says qahwa b-7lib or qahwa 7lib for a coffee with milk, and people talk about 7lib in a bag (sachet), long a subsidized staple and a common topic of conversation. The word is neutral and used throughout Algeria, with no notable regional variation in meaning.
Example
جيبلي شكارة حليب من الحانوت
jibli chkara 7lib men el-7anout
“Bring me a bag of milk from the grocery.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7lib” but also “hlib”, “7leb”, “hleb” and “7alib”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “7lib” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “milk”: 7lib in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “milk”; “breast milk”: 7lib in Tunisian.