batenjal باتنجال

Algerian Darja · noun

“batenjal” (باتنجال) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning eggplant, aubergine (vegetable).

Meanings

1. eggplant, aubergine (vegetable)

Usage

Batenjal is the common word in Algeria for eggplant, at the market as in the kitchen. It is used mostly as a collective noun: "chrit lbatenjal" (I bought eggplants), with the article l- often assimilated in speech. It appears in the names of many family dishes, fried, in sauce or stuffed (dolma). Pronunciation and spelling vary by region and person: batenjal, badenjal, betenjal. The word is familiar and everyday and raises no register problem. Note that it generally refers to the vegetable as a foodstuff, not to a single eggplant taken individually.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

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

Type “batenjal” on the Arabic keyboard