khamsin خمسين
Tunisian Derja · numeral
“khamsin” (خمسين) is a numeral in Tunisian Derja meaning fifty.
Meanings
- fifty
Usage
Khamsin is the number fifty. The counted noun is singular: khamsin dinar, khamsin wahed ("fifty people"). Units come before tens and are linked by w: sitta w khamsin ("fifty-six"). For prices, note that people often count in millimes, where "thousand" corresponds to one dinar. Depending on the context, khamsin alf can therefore mean fifty dinars. In arabizi, the digit 5 sometimes replaces kh (5amsin).
Example
خلّصت خمسين دينار
khallast khamsin dinar
“I paid fifty dinars.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “khamsin” but also “khamssin”, “5amsin” and “khamsine”. 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 “khamsin” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “fifty”: khamsin in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “fifty”: khamsin in Algerian.