khorda خردة
Algerian Darja · noun
“khorda” (خردة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning scrap metal, metal debris.
Meanings
- scrap metal, metal debris
- junk, worthless stuff
- mess, clutter
Usage
Khorda first means scrap metal, used metal objects that are sold on or thrown away. By extension, it is used for anything of poor quality or no value: low-end goods, a phone that breaks down, even a TV series considered mediocre ("khorda had lmousalsal"). The word also describes a heap of objects in disorder. The plural is khrod. A scrap dealer is called khordaji. Informal register, often pejorative when describing a product or a work.
Example
هاد التلفون خردة، خسر في جمعة.
had t-tilifoun khorda, khser f jem3a.
“This phone is junk, it broke down within a week.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khorda” but also “khourda”, “5orda” and “khrda”. 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 “khorda” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “scrap metal, used objects”; “wreck (old car)”: khorda in Tunisian.