khabal yekhabel خبل يخبل
Algerian Darja · verb
“khabal yekhabel” (خبل يخبل) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning tangle, tousle (hair).
Meanings
- tangle, tousle (hair)
- mess up, muddle
Usage
Khebbel is used mainly for hair: it means to tangle or tousle it, on waking, because of the wind or a hand that messes it up. The participle mkhebbel, feminine mkhebla, is very common: chaεrek mkhebbel means "your hair is a mess". By extension, the verb can apply to threads, to things left in disorder or to a situation that has become confused. Do not link it to the sense of "madness" that the root has elsewhere: here, the word first evokes tangling.
Example
الريح خبلتلي شعري
er-rih khebbeltli chaεri
“The wind messed up my hair.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, it is written “khabal yekhabel”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.