n7el نحل
Moroccan Darija · noun
“n7el” (نحل) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning bees.
Meanings
- bees
Usage
n7el is a collective noun meaning bees. For a single bee, one says n7la. It is heard mostly in 3sel d n7el, "bee honey", used to distinguish natural honey. The word should not be confused with n7ell, the first-person form of the verb 7ell, "to open". For example: n9der n7ell sh-sherjem?, "can I open the window?". In arabizi, the two words are often written the same way. Only context then distinguishes them.
Example
هاد العسل ديال النحل بلدي
had l3sel dyal n7el beldi
“This honey from bees is homemade.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “n7el” but also “n7ell”, “ne7el” and “na7l”. 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 “n7el” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “I open / that I open”; “to open, create (account, group)”: n7el in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “bees (collective)”: na7l in Tunisian.