dokhan دخان
Algerian Darja · noun
“dokhan” (دخان) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning cigarettes, tobacco.
Meanings
- cigarettes, tobacco
- smoke
Usage
Dokhan means smoke, but in Algeria the most common everyday meaning is tobacco or cigarettes. "Ykmi dokhan" or just "ykmi" means to smoke; "hbes dokhan" means to quit smoking. It is also used for the smoke of a fire, a car or a kitchen. The associated verb is not a literal "drink" or "smoke" but kma, ykmi. For a pack of cigarettes, people say "paquet" or "boîta". The word is neutral and used in all registers.
Example
باباه قاللو حبس الدخان
babah 9allou hbes dokhan
“His father told him to quit smoking.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dokhan” but also “dokhèn”, “do5an”, “dakhan” and “dokhane”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “dokhan” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “smoke”; “cigarette smoke”: dokhan in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “smoke”; “tobacco, cigarettes”: do5an in Tunisian.