khams خمس
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“khams” (خمس) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning five (before a noun).
Meanings
- five (before a noun)
- fifth, one fifth
Usage
Khms is the form of "five" used directly before a plural noun: khms snin (five years), khms d drari (five boys). To count on its own, or before a noun that is not plural, use khmsa. When telling the time, khms qsam means "twenty-five minutes", because one qsam is five minutes. Pronounced khoms, the word means "one fifth". The expression "cinq cinq", borrowed from French, means "perfect, flawless". Be careful not to mix up khms and khmsa.
Example
خدمت تما خمس سنين
khdmt tmma khms snin
“I worked there for five years.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khams” but also “khms”, “5ms”, “5emss”, “khmss” and “5emmess”. 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 “khams” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “five”: khams in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “five (before a noun)”; “one fifth”: khmes in Tunisian.