fqir فقير
Algerian Darja · adjective
“fqir” (فقير) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning poor, destitute.
Meanings
- poor, destitute
- poor in something
Usage
Fqir means "poor" in the material sense and can be used as a noun: el fqir, "the poor man", lefqara, "the poor". The word has a somewhat serious or religious tone, and often appears in blessings and prayers, alongside mehtaj ("needy"). In casual conversation people more readily say zawali or meskine, which also express compassion. Unlike English "poor" in "poor guy", fqir does not have the sympathetic sense of "poor fellow" before a noun: for that, use meskine. The feminine is fqira.
Example
هو فقير بصّح قلبو كبير.
houwa fqir bessah 9albou kbir.
“He is poor, but he has a big heart.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fqir” but also “f9ir”, “faqir”, “fkir” and “fgir”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “fqir” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “poor, destitute”; “a poor person, someone in need”: fa9ir in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “poor, without means”; “a poor person, a destitute person”: fa9ir in Tunisian.