hnin حنين
Algerian Darja · adjective
“hnin” (حنين) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning tender, affectionate.
Meanings
- tender, affectionate
- gentle, kind
- nostalgia (formal register)
Usage
In darja, hnin is mainly an adjective. It describes a tender, affectionate and caring person, often a mother or a child: galbou hnin, "he has a tender heart". The feminine is hnina. The sense of "nostalgia" comes from Standard Arabic and is found more in texts or songs than in everyday conversation. Hnin is also a given name, for both girls and boys. Context tells the name and the adjective apart.
Example
يماك حنينة بزاف
yemmak hnina bezzaf
“Your mother is very affectionate.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hnin” but also “hnine”, “7nin”, “hanine” and “hnina”. 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 “hnin” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “tender, affectionate, gentle”; “nostalgia (formal register)”: 7nin in Tunisian.