hout حوت
Algerian Darja · noun
“hout” (حوت) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning fish (collective).
Meanings
- fish (collective)
Usage
Hout is the usual word for "fish" in Algeria, where Standard Arabic says samak. It is a collective noun: hout is used for fish in general, and houta for a single fish. It is used both for the live animal and for the food: "nakhlou hout el youm", we're eating fish today. Species have local names, such as sardine or jerrana depending on the region. Pitfall for speakers of Eastern Arabic: in Standard Arabic, hout mainly means the whale, whereas in Algeria it simply means fish.
Example
روحت نشري الحوت من البحرية
rouht nechri el hout men el bahria
“I went to buy fish at the port.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hout” but also “7out”, “hot”, “7ot” and “hoot”. 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 “hout” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “fish (food or animal)”: 7out in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “fish (animal, food)”: 7out in Tunisian.