hittiste حيطيست
Algerian Darja · noun
“hittiste” (حيطيست) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning idle unemployed young man.
Meanings
- idle unemployed young man
- person hanging around doing nothing
Usage
Hittiste is formed from hit ("wall") with a French-style suffix. It refers to the unemployed young person who spends his days leaning against the walls of the neighborhood. The word is typically Algerian. It has entered Algerian French, and even the press, to talk about youth unemployment. Depending on the tone, it is descriptive, mocking or self-deprecating: "rani hittiste" is said of oneself ironically. The usual plural is hittistes. It is not insulting, but it remains colloquial.
Example
قرا وبقا حيطيست في الحومة.
qra w b9a hittiste fel 7ouma.
“He studied and ended up hanging around the neighborhood without work.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hittiste” but also “7itiset”, “hitiste”, “7itist” and “hitist”. 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.