bent khali بنت خالي
Tunisian Derja · expression
“bent khali” (بنت خالي) is an expression in Tunisian Derja meaning my cousin, maternal uncle's daughter.
Meanings
- my cousin, maternal uncle's daughter
- cousin, in a loose sense
Usage
Bent khali refers specifically to the daughter of the mother's brother. Tounsi distinguishes cousins by family link, where English simply says "cousin": bent 3ammi is the daughter of the paternal uncle, bent khalti that of the maternal aunt, and bent 3ammti that of the paternal aunt. The possessive is attached to the last word: bent khalek, "your cousin", bent khalou, "his cousin". For the masculine, you say wled khali. Within the family, these distinctions matter, especially when talking about marriage or inheritance. For an English speaker, the pitfall is translating everything as "cousin" and losing this information.
Example
بنت خالي جات من فرنسا البارح.
bent khali jet men frança lbere7.
“My cousin (my maternal uncle's daughter) arrived from France yesterday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bent khali” but also “bint khali”, “bent 5ali”, “bent khéli” and “bnt khali”. 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 “bent khali” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “my cousin (maternal uncle's daughter)”: bnt khali in Moroccan.