jins جنس
Moroccan Darija · noun
“jins” (جنس) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning kind, sort, type.
Meanings
- kind, sort, type
- sex (male or female)
- sexuality (formal register)
Usage
In darija, jens (or jins) first means "kind, sort". To talk about a type of people or things, people say had jens dyal nnas, "this kind of people". It also refers to biological sex, for example jens l-janin, "the baby's sex", at gender-reveal parties. The sense of "sexual act" exists, but it belongs to a formal, media or medical register. In everyday speech, the word stays neutral. The derivative jensiya means "nationality".
Example
ما كنبغيش هاد الجنس ديال الناس
ma kanbghich had jjens dyal nnas
“I don't like this kind of people.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “jins” but also “jens”, “jinss” and “jenss”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “jins” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “kind, sort, species”; “sex (male/female)”: jens in Tunisian.