zitoun زيتون
Tunisian Derja · noun
“zitoun” (زيتون) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning olives (fruit, collective).
Meanings
- olives (fruit, collective)
- olive trees, olive grove
Usage
Zitoun is a collective noun: it means olives in general, or olive trees. For a single olive or a single tree, one says zitouna. Olive oil is zit zitoun, often shortened to zit, because in Tunisia the default oil is olive oil. The word recurs in agricultural vocabulary (olive picking, olive trees) and in common compounds such as fa7m zitoun, olive-wood charcoal. Pitfall for an English speaker: zitoun can mean the tree as well as the fruit, and context decides.
Example
شرينا كيلو زيتون من السوق
chrina kilo zitoun mel souk
“We bought a kilo of olives at the market.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “zitoun” but also “zitoune”, “zeitoun”, “zaytoun” and “zitoon”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “zitoun” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “olives”; “olive trees”: zitoun in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “olives (the fruit)”; “olive tree, olive trees”: zitoun in Algerian.