kchef كشف
Algerian Darja · verb
“kchef” (كشف) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to reveal, to expose.
Meanings
- to reveal, to expose
- to discover, to detect
- to unmask someone
Usage
Kchef means to bring to light what was hidden: a secret, a truth or someone's real intentions. It is often used figuratively, frequently with a pronoun object: kechfou, "he unmasked him", tkechef, "he gave himself away, he was unmasked". The word is shared with Standard Arabic, so it also appears in a more formal register, on television or in the press, for example in "kachf", "detection" or "medical examination". In everyday speech, it appears mostly when talking about scandals, lies found out, or a person whose true face has been seen.
Example
الوقت كشف كلش، ولا راهو باين شكون صاحبك.
el waqt kchef kolch, wella rahou bayen chkoun sahbek.
“Time has revealed everything, now it's clear who your friend is.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kchef” but also “kechef”, “kshef”, “kchaf” and “kachef”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “kchef” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “reveal, disclose”; “uncover, expose”: kchef in Moroccan.