hawch الحوش
Algerian Darja · noun
“hawch” (الحوش) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning house, family home.
Meanings
- house, family home
- inner courtyard of a house
Usage
Hawch is the common word for the house, especially a detached or family house, as opposed to an apartment. Originally it refers to the traditional house organized around a courtyard, and it can still name the courtyard itself. It is used with possessives: hawchna (our house), hawchkoum (your place). Rouh l'el hawch means "go home". The word belongs to the informal, everyday register. The pitfall is to always translate it as "courtyard": in Algerian usage, the meaning "house, home" clearly dominates.
Example
راني راجع للحوش، نتلاقاو غدوة.
rani raje3 l'el hawch, ntla9aw ghedwa.
“I'm going home, see you tomorrow.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hawch” but also “houch”, “7awch”, “haouch” and “hawche”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.