7be9 حبق
Moroccan Darija · noun
“7be9” (حبق) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning basil.
Meanings
- basil
Usage
L7be9 refers to basil, an aromatic plant often grown in pots in homes, on windowsills and terraces, for its fragrance. It is used with the article: l7be9. It is sometimes put in tea or given as a gift for its smell. It should not be confused with mint (n3na3) or with other tea herbs such as chiba. The sentence found in the corpus seems to be a poorly transcribed saying and does not allow any other meaning to be drawn from it.
Example
عندها الحبق فالشرجم
3ndha l7be9 f cherjem
“She has basil at the window.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7be9” but also “hbe9”, “7baq” and “7bek”. 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; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.