nouskha نسخة
Algerian Darja · noun
“nouskha” (نسخة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning copy, duplicate.
Meanings
- copy, duplicate
- version (of a game, software)
- lookalike, replica (figurative)
Usage
Nouskha comes from Standard Arabic and is in common use in Algeria, especially for administrative documents: you ask for a nouskha of a certificate or an ID document, often alongside the French "copie". It is also used for versions of a piece of software, a game or a programme. Figuratively, in a familiar or mocking tone, nouskha refers to a person who imitates another: "nouskha djazaïria" means "the Algerian version of someone". The plural is nouskhat or nsakh. In casual speech, many people simply say "copie" or "photocopie".
Example
لازملي نسخة من شهادة الميلاد
lazemli nouskha men chahadet el milad
“I need a copy of the birth certificate.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “nouskha” but also “nuskha”, “noskha” and “nos5a”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “nouskha” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “copy, exemplar”; “version (of software, a text)”: noskha in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “copy of a document”; “version (software, edition)”: nos5a in Tunisian.