herres هرس

Algerian Darja · verb

“herres” (هرس) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to smash, to shatter, to break.

Meanings

1. to smash, to shatter, to break
2. to hit hard, to beat up
3. to crush (an opponent)

Usage

Harres (or herres) is the intensive form of hres, "to break". The doubled consonant indicates a more violent or repeated action: you break something into pieces, you smash it. The word is colloquial and very common in speech. It is also used of a person who is beaten hard. Figuratively, especially in football talk, it means to crush or humiliate an opponent. The participle mherres means "broken, in pieces", and can also describe an exhausted person. Do not confuse it with the meaning "to trim" that the root has in Standard Arabic: in Algeria, that is not the meaning you hear.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “herres” but also “harress”, “harres”, “hres” and “hares”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “herres” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to break, smash”; “to break open, bash in”: herres in Moroccan.