qyas قياس

Algerian Darja · noun

“qyas” (قياس) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning measurement, size.

Meanings

1. measurement, size
2. comparison, analogy

Usage

Qyas means a measurement or a size, notably at the tailor's: yeddi lek l'qyas ("he takes your measurements"). For clothes and shoes, the French words "taille" and "pointure" are also heard a lot. Online, the word appears mainly in the fixed phrase w l'hadith qyas, "and the rest can be guessed". This phrase is placed at the end of a story or an example to let the listener generalize for themselves. It belongs to a familiar but polished register and has nothing to do with size.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “qyas” but also “9yas”, “kias”, “qias” and “9ias”. 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 “qyas” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “size (clothes, shoes)”; “measurement”: 9yas in Moroccan.

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “size, shoe size”; “measurement”: 9yes in Tunisian.