mlyar مليار
Moroccan Darija · numeral
“mlyar” (مليار) is a numeral in Moroccan Darija meaning billion.
Meanings
- billion
- billion centimes (ten million dirhams)
Usage
Mlyar means a billion. In conversations about money, you need to know that Moroccans often count in centimes: a mlyar then means a billion centimes, that is, ten million dirhams. Context, or explicit mention of the currency (euro, dirham), removes the ambiguity. The plural is mlayr. The word is also used as an exaggeration for a huge sum. It is built without a preposition after a number (joj mlyar, "two billion"), and with b for a price: b mlyar, "for a billion".
Example
منين غادي نجيب مليار يوروس؟
mnin ghadi njib maliar euros?
“Where am I going to find a billion euros?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mlyar” but also “melyar”, “mliar”, “malyar” and “maliar”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “mlyar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “billion”; “ten million dinars (counted in centimes)”: melyar in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “billion”; “billion millimes (sum of money)”: milyar in Tunisian.