hanout الحانوت
Algerian Darja · noun
“hanout” (الحانوت) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning shop, small business.
Meanings
- shop, small business
- neighbourhood grocery
- small corner grocery
Usage
El hanout means any small business run by a shopkeeper: a corner grocery, a neighbourhood shop, a stall selling sweets or cakes. The word is almost always used with the article (el hanout) and often with a complement: hanout taâ el halwa, "the sweet shop". The plural is hwanet. The shopkeeper is called moul el hanout or hanouti. For a department store or supermarket, people usually say magasa or supérette. Note: the word has nothing to do with the spice blend called ras el hanout, even though the expression contains the same word.
Example
روح للحانوت جيبلي الخبز
rouh lel hanout jibli el khobz
“Go to the shop and get me some bread.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hanout” but also “7anout”, “l7anout”, “hanoute”, “hanoot” and “hanot”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find الحانوت and حانوت, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “hanout” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
The same word also exists in Moroccan Darija, written حانوت, where it means “shop, neighborhood grocery”; “store”: 7anout in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
The same word also exists in Tunisian Derja, written حانوت, where it means “shop, store”; “commercial premises”: 7anout in Tunisian.