Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An informal system for transferring money, especially across borders, in which local agents disperse or collect money or goods on behalf of friends, relatives, or other agents without legal protection or supervision, trusting that all remaining obligations will be settled through future transactions.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A long-established, informal system of money transfer from India and the Middle East, still in use by migrant workers.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an underground banking system based on trust whereby money can be made available internationally without actually moving it or leaving a record of the transaction

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Arabic ḥawāla, bill of exchange, from ḥāla, to change, turn; see ḥwl in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Arabic حوالة (ħawāla, "transfer”, “trust")

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Examples

Comments

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  • Also, hundi.

    February 13, 2010

  • Interpol explains halawa in depth.

    February 13, 2010

  • Hawala or halawa?

    February 13, 2010

  • I prefer listing terms in lowercase unless I'm certain the term is a proper noun that would be capitalized regardless of its position in an English sentence.

    February 13, 2010

  • Halawa refers to halva, the sweet; hawala has to do with a means moving money outside the formal banking system - money that sweetens many a deal, legal or otherwise.

    February 13, 2010

  • So what does Interpol have against sweets?

    February 13, 2010

  • Interpolate too many sweets and now has a tummyache.

    February 18, 2010

  • “India has relatively few bank branches for a country its size, so many migrants stuff money in their mattresses or send cash home through traditional “hawala,” or hand-to-hand networks.”

    The New York Times, Do Believe the Hype, by Thomas L. Friedman, November 2, 2010

    November 3, 2010