khrouf خروف
Moroccan Darija · noun
“khrouf” (خروف) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning lamb, young sheep.
Meanings
- lamb, young sheep
- sheep (broad sense)
Usage
Khrouf first means the young sheep, the lamb. For the adult sheep, and especially the animal for Eid, people more often say hawli or kebch. The common plural is khurfan. The word is heard in connection with livestock, butchery or meat: "lham dyal lkhrouf" (lamb meat). An English speaker may often translate it as "sheep", but in darija khrouf stresses the animal's young age. In an affectionate or mocking use, it can also be applied to a docile person.
Example
شرينا خروف صغير من السوق.
chrina khrouf sghir mn souq.
“We bought a small lamb at the souk.”
Forms
| feminine | n3ja |
|---|---|
| plural | khrfan |
| feminine plural | n3aj |
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 “khrouf” but also “5rouf”, “khrof”, “5rof” and “khrouff”. 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 “khrouf” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “sheep, lamb”; “Eid sheep”: kharouf in Algerian.