7lla9 حلّاق
Moroccan Darija · noun
“7lla9” (حلّاق) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning men's barber.
Meanings
- men's barber
Usage
7lla9 means the men's barber, the one who cuts hair and shaves beards. One says "mchit 3nd l7lla9" for "I went to the barber." The shop itself is often called "l7ella9a" or simply "3nd l7lla9". For a women's hairdresser or a women's salon, "coiffeuse" or "coiffure", borrowed from French, are used instead. The word is in the everyday register and has no particular connotation. The usual plural is "7lla9a". Be careful to pronounce the emphatic h (7) and the q (9), which distinguish it from other similar words.
Example
غادي نمشي عند الحلّاق نقاد شعري
ghadi nmchi 3nd l7lla9 n9ad cha3ri
“I'm going to the barber to get my hair cut.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7lla9” but also “7ella9”, “7alla9”, “hallaq” and “hella9”. 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.