khat خط
Algerian Darja · noun
“khat” (خط) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning line, stroke.
Meanings
- line, stroke
- route, transport line
- handwriting, font
Usage
Khat refers to a line or stroke, whether drawn, written or figurative. It is also used for a bus or transport line (had el khat yrouh l...), a traffic lane, a telephone line, and a person's handwriting or the font of a text (khatou mlih, he has nice handwriting). Figuratively, khat ahmar (red line) marks a limit not to be crossed. The usual plural is khtout. The t is pronounced emphatic and stressed, which arabizi sometimes renders as tt.
Example
رسم خط مستقيم فالكراسة
rsem khat mestaqim fel korrassa
“He drew a straight line in the notebook.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khat” but also “khatt”, “5at” and “khet”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “khat” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “line, stroke”; “line (transport, telephone)”: khet in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “line, stroke”; “phone line or transport line”: khat in Tunisian.