khal9 خلق
Moroccan Darija · noun
“khal9” (خلق) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning people, crowd.
Meanings
- people, crowd
- creation, God's creatures
Usage
The noun l-khel9, always used with the article, commonly means "people" or "a crowd": kan l-khel9, there was a crowd. In a religious register, it refers to creation and created beings, as in khal9 llah, "God's creatures". Distinguish it from the verb khle9, "to create", which is also used in the sense of "to be born" (khle9t f Fès, I was born in Fès). Nor should it be confused with khlla-k, "he left you", from khalla, "to leave". Latin spellings often make these two words look alike in sentences such as chkoun li khllak.
Example
كان الخلق بزاف فالسوق
kan l-khel9 bzzaf f souq
“There were a lot of people at the market.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khal9” but also “khel9”, “khl9”, “5al9”, “khalk” and “khlak”. 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; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “khal9” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “people, the world, crowd”; “creatures, God's creation”: khlaq in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “people, crowd”; “God's creatures, mankind”: khlaq in Tunisian.