ma3foun معفون
Algerian Darja · adjective
“ma3foun” (معفون) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning rotten, mouldy.
Meanings
- rotten, mouldy
- filthy, grimy
- lousy, poor quality
Usage
Ma3foun (feminine ma3founa) first means rotten, mouldy or spoiled, said of food or something that smells bad. By extension, it describes what is very dirty. In informal speech, it is mostly used to disparage: a ma3foun film, match or service is simply lousy. Applied to a person, it becomes a fairly contemptuous insult, meaning "pathetic" or "rotten". It should therefore be used with caution. The register is informal.
Example
الخبز ولّى معفون، ارميه
el khobz wella ma3foun, armih
“The bread has gone mouldy, throw it away.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ma3foun” but also “maafoun”, “ma3fon” and “m3afoun”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “ma3foun” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “rotten, spoiled”; “awful, very bad (slang)”: m3foun in Moroccan.