qed

• ed (informal, colloquial, when prefixed by x’)

From a contracted pronunciation of qiegħed, from Arabic قاعِد (qāʕid, “sitting”), used in a number of dialects (like Tunisian Arabic and Hijazi Arabic) to form progressive tenses, originally in the sense “he’s sitting there (talking, drinking, etc.)”. Unrelated to Arabic قَد (qad), a modal particle, which does not express progressiveness.

• IPA^(key): /ʔɛːt/
• Usually unstressed and then automatically shortened to /ʔɛt/.

qed

1. A verbal particle indicating progressive verb tenses

   X’qed tagħmel? – Qed naħsel ħwejġek.

   What are you doing? – I am washing your clothes.

   • 2019, Kristina Borg, Imkejjen u Rkejjen, Ede Books, →ISBN, page 18:

     Dal-lejl ħlomt ħolma.
     Waħda ħelwa, imma stramba.
     Fil-verità, waħda li qed noħlom ta’ spiss.

     Last night I had a dream.
     A pleasant dream, but strange.
     Actually, it's a recurring dream.

• In feminine and plural contexts, qed is still said to be used, although many speakers continue to use qegħda and qegħdin instead. In these cases, the full, uncontracted forms are used, just as they're written.