nqel نقل
Algerian Darja · verb
“nqel” (نقل) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to copy, to cheat in an exam.
Meanings
- to copy, to cheat in an exam
- to copy out, transcribe
- to transport, transfer
Usage
Nqel, present yenqel, is very commonly used in school settings to mean "to copy from someone" or "to cheat" in an exam or the bac. People say nqel 3la sahbou, "he copied from his classmate". The verb also means "to copy out a text". The sense "to transport" or "to transfer" belongs more to the formal register. It is found mainly in the noun naql, "transport", for example in naql el musafirin, "passenger transport". For "to move house", people usually say rahhel or bedel ed-dar.
Example
حكموه ينقل في الامتحان
hakmouh yenqel f el imtihan
“They caught him cheating in the exam.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “nqel” but also “n9el”, “yen9el”, “ynaqel” and “nkel”. 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 “nqel” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to copy, copy out (a text)”; “to cheat, copy from someone”: n9el in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “transport (of people, goods)”; “transmission, report”: na9l in Tunisian.