bnt khalti بنت خالتي
Moroccan Darija · expression
“bnt khalti” (بنت خالتي) is an expression in Moroccan Darija meaning my cousin (maternal aunt's daughter).
Meanings
- my cousin (maternal aunt's daughter)
Usage
Bent khalti literally means "my maternal aunt's daughter". Because darija distinguishes family ties precisely, there is no single word for "cousin": you always specify which parent the link goes through. Khalti is the mother's sister. The final pronoun changes with the person: bent khaltek (your cousin), bent khaltha (her cousin). The masculine is weld khalti. An English speaker will simply translate it as "my cousin", but should understand the maternal side when listening.
Example
بنت خالتي غادي تجي عندنا لعشية
bnt khalti ghadi tji 3ndna l3chiya
“My cousin is going to come to our place this afternoon.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bnt khalti” but also “bent khalti”, “bnt 5alti” and “bent 5alti”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “bnt khalti” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “my cousin (maternal aunt's daughter)”: bent khalti in Tunisian.