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chleuh

/ʃlø/

noun, masculine/ʃlø/plural: chleuhs

Tashelhit; one of the Berber languages; a German; a kraut

Synonyms: boche, fritz

Borrowed from Moroccan Arabic شلوح (šlūḥ), plural of شلح (šilḥ). Moroccan /u/ may have an [ø]-like quality in certain positions. Among the French military in northern Africa (Bataillon d’Afrique), it came to mean “one who cannot speak French or even Arabic”. It was later applied to German-speakers in eastern France and then, during the Second World War, to Germans at large.

adjective/ʃlø/

Shilha, Tashelhit; German

Borrowed from Moroccan Arabic شلوح (šlūḥ), plural of شلح (šilḥ). Moroccan /u/ may have an [ø]-like quality in certain positions. Among the French military in northern Africa (Bataillon d’Afrique), it came to mean “one who cannot speak French or even Arabic”. It was later applied to German-speakers in eastern France and then, during the Second World War, to Germans at large.