kheddar خضّار
Moroccan Darija · noun
“kheddar” (خضّار) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning greengrocer, vegetable seller.
Meanings
- greengrocer, vegetable seller
Usage
The kheddar is the fruit and vegetable seller: the one at the souk, at the neighbourhood stall or with the roaming cart. The word is formed on khodra (vegetables). The feminine is kheddara and the plural is also kheddara. People commonly say "mchit 3nd lkheddar", I went to the greengrocer's. The register is everyday, with no particular connotation. The word refers to the person, not the shop. For an English speaker, watch the double consonant dd, which is emphatic and must be clearly marked.
Example
سير جيب الماطيشة من عند الخضّار
sir jib lmaticha mn 3nd lkheddar
“Go get some tomatoes from the greengrocer.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kheddar” but also “khddar”, “khaddar” and “5eddar”. 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 “kheddar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “greengrocer, produce seller”: 5adhar in Tunisian.