zitoun زيتون
Algerian Darja · noun
“zitoun” (زيتون) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning olives (the fruit).
Meanings
- olives (the fruit)
- olive tree, olive trees
Usage
Zitoun means olives as a fruit and, by extension, the tree. It is a collective noun: you say zitoun for "olives" in general, and zitouna for a single olive or a single olive tree. For the tree, people often specify chejrat zitoun or chjer ezzitoun. A distinction is made between zitoun lekhel (black olives) and zitoun lekhdar (green olives). The word comes up a lot in connection with picking, pressing and oil, zit zitoun, which is also simply called zit. Pitfall for an English speaker: zitoun is not pluralized to talk about olives in quantity.
Example
شريت شوية زيتون لكحل من السوق.
chrit chwiya zitoun lekhel mel souk.
“I bought a few black olives at the market.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “zitoun” but also “zitoune”, “zaytoun”, “zitun” and “zitoon”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “zitoun” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “olives”; “olive trees”: zitoun in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “olives (fruit, collective)”; “olive trees, olive grove”: zitoun in Tunisian.