wa7id l9arn وحيد لقرن
Moroccan Darija · noun
“wa7id l9arn” (وحيد لقرن) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning rhinoceros.
Meanings
- rhinoceros
Usage
Wa7id l-9arn, literally "the one with a single horn," is the word for rhinoceros. It is borrowed from standard Arabic but pronounced the Moroccan way, with the article reduced to l- and the q often written as 9 in online writing. The animal is not part of everyday life in Morocco: the word is mostly met in documentaries, zoos or children's books. Some speakers also simply use the French word "rhinocéros." The expression works as a single noun, and it is the second element that carries the article.
Example
شفت وحيد لقرن فالزو
chft wa7id l9arn f zoo
“I saw a rhinoceros at the zoo.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “wa7id l9arn” but also “wahid l9arn”, “wahid lqarn” and “wa7id lqarn”. 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; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.