9yas قياس
Moroccan Darija · noun
“9yas” (قياس) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning size (clothes, shoes).
Meanings
- size (clothes, shoes)
- measurement
- bla 9yas: hugely, excessively
Usage
9yas refers to the size of a garment or the size of a shoe, hence its frequent use in shops: chno l9yas dyalek? ("what's your size?"). More broadly it means "measurement": khda l9yas, "to take measurements", at the tailor's for example. The expression bla 9yas, literally "without measure", is a colloquial intensifier: "enormously, endlessly". It appears in tbe3tini bla 9yas or fer7an bla 9yas. It should not be translated word for word.
Example
ماعندكش قياس صغر ?
ma3ndkch 9yass sgher ?
“Don't you have a smaller size?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9yas” but also “9yass”, “qyas” and “9iyas”. 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 “9yas” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “measurement, size”; “comparison, analogy”: qyas in Algerian.
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.