hawel حول

Algerian Darja · verb

“hawel” (حول) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to move, to change place.

Meanings

1. to move, to change place
2. to move house
3. to transfer, to convert (money, file)

Usage

Hawwel means to move something: hawwel tomobil, "move the car". Without an object, it means to move house: hawwelna l Wahran, "we moved to Oran". It is also used for a money transfer, a bank transfer or a change of post in the administration. It should not be confused with the noun hawl in the expression la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, nor with the preposition hawla, "around", which belongs to Standard Arabic. In Arabic script without vowels, the spelling can be identical.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hawel” but also “hawwel”, “7awel”, “7awwel” and “hawal”. 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.

Type “hawel” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to move, shift”; “to transfer or convert money”: 7ewwel in Moroccan.