khal خل
Tunisian Derja · noun
“khal” (خل) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning vinegar.
Meanings
- vinegar
Usage
Khall means vinegar, used in cooking for salads, marinades and preserved vegetables such as ommek houriya or the vinegar variants. The word is masculine. Beware of the homography in Arabic script: خلّ can also be the imperative of khalla ("leave") or be used to mean "so that" in certain constructions. Context resolves the ambiguity. The word is common and neutral.
Example
زيد شوية خل للسلاطة.
zid chwaya khal lel slata.
“Add a little vinegar to the salad.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khal” but also “5al”, “khall”, “5all” and “khel”. 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.