mel7 ملح
Tunisian Derja · noun
“mel7” (ملح) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning salt.
Meanings
- salt
- bond of hospitality (bread and salt)
Usage
Mel7 is the usual word for cooking salt. Of a dish, people say na9ess mel7, "not salty enough", or barcha mel7, "too salty". In the expression bina 3ich w mel7, literally "there is bread and salt between us", it evokes a bond of trust born of a shared meal, which one recalls to someone in order to reproach them for a betrayal. Be careful not to confuse it with mli7, "good, well", which is sometimes written similarly in arabizi (mle7). Common register.
Example
الماكلة ناقصة ملح
el makla na9sa mel7
“The dish is missing salt.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mel7” but also “mele7”, “mal7”, “mle7” and “melh”. 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 Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “salt”: mel7 in Moroccan.
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.