khawi خاوي
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“khawi” (خاوي) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning empty.
Meanings
- empty
- free, vacant
- hollow, pointless
Usage
Khawi is the usual word for "empty": a bottle, a room, a street. The feminine is khawya and the plural khawyin. It also means "free, available" for a room, a seat or an apartment. Figuratively, dawi khawi means "to talk for nothing" or to joke. For an empty stomach, people say 3la lkhawi, "on an empty stomach". The corresponding verb, khwa, means "to empty" or "to become empty".
Example
القصم خاوي اليوم
l9issm khawi lyouma
“The classroom is empty today.”
Forms
| feminine | khawia |
|---|---|
| plural | khawyin |
| feminine plural | khawyat |
Forms as recorded in DODa, in its spelling.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khawi” but also “5awi”, “khawy” and “khaoui”. 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 “khawi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “empty”; “hungry, with an empty stomach”: khawi in Algerian.