dellaa الدلاع
Algerian Darja · noun
“dellaa” (الدلاع) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning watermelon.
Meanings
- watermelon
Usage
Dellaa (with a doubled l and a final 3) is the usual word in Algeria for watermelon. It is a collective noun: you buy dellaa at the market. For a single fruit, one says dellaa wahda or dellaa3a, adding the singulative suffix. The yellow melon, by contrast, is called bettikh, and that word does not mean watermelon in Algeria. It is the emblematic fruit of summer, eaten well chilled after the meal. Figuratively and colloquially, dellaa can be used to mock a big head or a person considered foolish, depending on the tone.
Example
شرينا دلاعة كبيرة من السوق
chrina dellaa kbira men souk
“We bought a big watermelon from the market.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dellaa” but also “dela3”, “della3”, “delaa”, “dela3a” and “della3a”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find الدلاع and دلاعة, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “dellaa” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
The same word also exists in Tunisian Derja, written دلاعة, where it means “watermelon”: della3a in Tunisian.