mel7 ملح
Moroccan Darija · noun
“mel7” (ملح) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning salt.
Meanings
- salt
Usage
The word mel7 means salt, and it is used mostly with the article: lmel7. In everyday cooking, many Moroccans say lmel7a instead for table salt; mel7 turns up more in expressions and in a somewhat more general register. It should not be confused with the adjective mal7 ("salty"), which is usually written with an alif, nor with the verb mella7 ("to salt"). To ask for more salt, one naturally says zid lmel7 or zid lmel7a. For an English speaker, the difference between the vowels of mel7 and mal7 really matters.
Example
زيد شوية د الملح فالطاجين
zid chwiya d lmel7 f tajine
“Add a little salt to the tajine.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mel7” but also “mal7”, “melh” and “mlah”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “mel7” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “salt”; “spice; what gives flavor”: mel7 in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “salt”; “bond of hospitality (bread and salt)”: mel7 in Tunisian.