# MSA/All dialects: قفا/bottom side



## elroy

Hello!

In Palestinian Arabic we use the word قفا (2afa) in certain contexts to mean the bottom side of something.

For example:

قفا الكرسي = the bottom of the chair

Is there an MSA equivalent?  What would you use in your dialect?

Thanks!


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## analeeh

In Syrian it's also _2afa _(unsurprisingly).


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## ayed

Yes, it is used right here
وقف قفا الباب
stand behind the door
It is often meant " the back of "


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## elroy

Thanks guys!  What about MSA?


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## be.010

Hi!

In Syrian it is indeed 2afa, but it generally means "back". It is also used as a polite expression for butt. It also means behind, but that use is becoming less common.

2afa lkirsi would rather be understood here as "behind the chair" or "the rear of the back of the chair".

As to MSA, it means the back of the neck, same as the Egyptian use. From the word قفا comes تقفّى (to follow), and the word قافية - the last syllable of a poem verse.
One last thing about the word: In classical metaphor it also meant "forehead", which is ironic, but meant to be so. (أغم القفا is someone who has hair growing on his forehead, which was deemed as a stereotype for dumbness).


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## analeeh

What would you use in Syrian for the underside?


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## be.010

مقعد (ma23ad).


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## analeeh

But surely that would just mean the seat - i.e. the bit you sit on? I'd expect the underside if anything to be قفا المقعد. 

To be fair, it's quite unlikely that you'd need to talk about the underside of the seat. But still.

To be honest before elroy posted I'd've interpreted قفا الكرسي as the back side of the back of the chair (i.e. قفا ضهر الكرسي) had I heard it, but I assumed Syrian and Palestinian would act the same here (foiled again by dialect differences).


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## be.010

Yes, since the word قفا is also used to mean butt, I assume it could be understood differently in other regions...
مقعد الكرسي itself has the same logic of the Palestinian قفا الكرسي being the downside of the chair, as معقد is also a word for butt. The back of the chair is ضهر الكرسي.


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## analeeh

Ahhhh I see now. So _ma23ad_ isn't the seat of the chair but rather the 'backside' of the chair.


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## be.010

No, it is the seat of the chair! I updated the post above to make it make more sense...


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## barkoosh

In Lebanon, قفا الكرسي is generally understood as قفا ظهر الكرسي, that is, the backside of the back of the chair. The seat is called قعدة. For the underside, one would probably say, قفا القعدة or القعدة من تحت. However, one would simply say for example, حدا ملزّق علكة تحت الكرسي, which is understood as the underside of the chair.


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## Zoghbi

In Algeria, قفا means "neck" don't know if it used too in the meaning of "back, reverse" (the word I use for that is ظهر).


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## djara

In Tunisian, the seat of the chair is qa'adat el korsi قعّادة الكرسي.
قفا الكرسي means behind the chair (the chair is between the speaker and what he's referring to). However قفا is quite rare and وراء is preferred. 
For the underside of the chair: تحت الكرسي or (unlikely) قفا قعادة الكرسي
قفا is used in a set expression ما وصلت إلا ما وجهي ولّا في قفايا literally: I only reached there when my face became in my back, i.e. it was very hard (the underlined part).
For fabric we say وجه وقفا i.e. the right and the wrong side of fabric.
The general term for bottom is قاع: hence  قاع الدبّوزة is the bottom of the bottle (both inside and outside).
For butt, a possible polite word is مقعد. A less polite (even rude in certain contexts) but more frequent word is ترمة tirma, probably of amazigh origin.


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## elroy

Thanks to everyone for your replies!

Does anyone know what the bottom of a chair (i.e. the underside of the part you sit on) would be called in MSA?


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## tounsi51

Thank you Djara as I had no idea how we say that in Tunisia 

Just to add that outside the Sahel, قاع means the "floor" (I think you say "stak").

Personnally I would say قعر g3ar for the bottom of a bottle


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## Hemza

djara said:


> The general term for bottom is قاع: hence  قاع الدبّوزة is the bottom of the bottle (both inside and outside).
> For butt, a possible polite word is مقعد. A less polite (even rude in certain contexts) but more frequent word is ترمة tirma, probably of amazigh origin.



Same in Morocco, قاع is used alone and it precede something to indicate its bottom (bottom of the bottle is said قاع القرعة). Although, alone it also means the bottom (of someone ).

I think this word is the origin of the word "ga3" used in some areas of Morocco/Algeria and in Mauritania. In these dialects, it means "completely/at all" or "all".


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## ahmar

In Maltese it is "*qiegh*", the gh here spelled as a normal h (as in "hurt").

Examples:

Il-qiegh tal-bahar (bottom of the sea)

Il-qiegh tas-siggu (bottom of the chair)


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## Hemza

ahmar said:


> In Maltese it is "*qiegh*", the gh here spelled as a normal h (as in "hurt").



It looks like the word qa3/قاع


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## Schem

In Najdi Arabic, قفا gafa is generally the backside of something. Someone's مقفَا mgaffa would be a polite way of referring to someone's behind or buttocks.


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