mqass مقص
Tunisian Derja · noun
“mqass” (مقص) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning scissors.
Meanings
- scissors
Usage
Mqass refers to a pair of scissors, whatever the use: sewing, hairdressing, cooking or office. Unlike the English plural "scissors", the word is grammatically singular: "mqass wa7ed" corresponds to "a pair of scissors". The plural is mqassat. The use is readily specified with a complement: mqass cha3r (hair scissors), mqass mta3 khyata (sewing scissors). The word is common and neutral. The related verb "qass" means "to cut" with scissors or a blade, and comes up very often in everyday language.
Example
عطيني المقص نقص الورقة.
a3tini el-mqass n9os el-war9a.
“Pass me the scissors so I can cut the paper.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mqass” but also “m9as”, “mkass”, “mqas” and “m9ass”. 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 “mqass” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “scissors”; “shears, large scissors”: m9ess in Moroccan.