khelkhal خلخال
Moroccan Darija · noun
“khelkhal” (خلخال) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning anklet.
Meanings
- anklet
Usage
The khelkhal is a bracelet worn on the ankle, traditionally by women, often made of silver (nnoqra) and sometimes decorated with small bells. It is associated with traditional jewellery, festive outfits, weddings and dance. It also appears in popular songs. The plural is khlakhel. The word is masculine: khelkhal zwin. For an English speaker, the difficulty lies mainly in the kh sound, repeated twice, and in the short vowel of the first syllable, which is often reduced in speech.
Example
شرات خلخال ديال النقرة
chrat khelkhal dyal nnoqra
“She bought a silver anklet.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khelkhal” but also “khalkhal”, “5el5al”, “khlkhal” and “5al5al”. 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 “khelkhal” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “traditional anklet”: khal5al in Tunisian.