9anfoud قنفود
Algerian Darja · noun
“9anfoud” (قنفود) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning hedgehog.
Meanings
- hedgehog
- person with messy hair
Usage
Qanfoud is the usual word for the hedgehog, an animal familiar in the Algerian countryside. Figuratively, it is used to gently tease someone whose hair is a mess, for example tousled after waking up. It can also be addressed to a prickly person who "stings" when you approach them. The q is often pronounced g in the East and the interior of the country (ganfoud). Plural: qnafed.
Example
شفت قنفود في الجنان البارح
cheft 9anfoud fel jnan lbare7
“I saw a hedgehog in the garden yesterday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9anfoud” but also “qanfoud”, “ganfoud”, “kanfoud”, “9onfoud” and “qanfood”. 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 “9anfoud” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “hedgehog”; “porcupine (in some regions)”: 9enfoud in Moroccan.