wahda وحدة
Algerian Darja · numeral
“wahda” (وحدة) is a numeral in Algerian Darja meaning one (feminine numeral).
Meanings
- one (feminine numeral)
- a woman, a girl
- one o'clock (lwahda)
Usage
Wahda is the feminine form of the numeral "one": wahda for feminine "one", wahed for masculine "one". Used on its own, it very often refers to a woman or a girl without naming her: cheft wahda, "I saw a girl". With the article, lwahda indicates the hour: f lwahda, "at one o'clock". It also works as a pronoun: wahda menhom, "one of them (f.)". The meanings "unity" or "solitude" belong mainly to Standard Arabic. They are uncommon in everyday conversation in Algeria.
Example
شفت وحدة فالطريق
cheft wahda f triq
“I saw a girl in the street.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “wahda” but also “wa7da”, “wehda” and “ouahda”. 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 “wahda” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “one (feminine)”; “loneliness”: wehda in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “one (feminine numeral and pronoun)”; “being alone, solitude”: wa7da in Tunisian.