9ahwa قهوة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“9ahwa” (قهوة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning coffee (drink).
Meanings
- coffee (drink)
- café
- small tip, bribe
Usage
9ahwa means both the drink and the place where it is drunk, like the French word café. For the drink, people often specify: 9ahwa k7la "black coffee", nss nss "half coffee, half milk". For the place, one says mcha l9ahwa "he went to the café". The neighbourhood café is above all a place of male sociability, where people watch football and chat. The diminutive 9hiwa can mean, in a familiar register, a small sum slipped to someone to get a favour. The digit 9 stands for the sound q in Latin-script writing.
Example
قهوة بسكر، شكران
9ahwa b skkar, chokran
“A coffee with sugar, thank you.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9ahwa” but also “9hwa”, “9ehwa”, “kahwa”, “qahwa” and “9a8wa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “9ahwa” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “coffee (drink)”; “café (place)”: 9ahwa in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “coffee (drink)”; “café (place)”: 9ahwa in Tunisian.