x'inhu - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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From Arabic أَيُّ شَيْءٍ هُوَ (ʔayyu šayʔin huwa, literally what thing is it), whence also Moroccan Arabic شنو (šnu), اشنو (ašnu), Gulf Arabic شنو (šinu). The ancient genitive ending -in was generally lost, but remained in contraction with the following personal pronoun. Compare also xejn (nothing), where the final -n is the accusative ending -an.

x’inhu m (extended form x’inhuwa, feminine singular x’inhi or x’inhija, plural x’inhuma)

  1. contraction of x’ (what) + hu (he, it)
  • Often equivalent to English “what is”. For details on usage, see the notes at x’.