masmar مسمار
Algerian Darja · noun
“masmar” (مسمار) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning nail.
Meanings
- nail
- stingy person, miser (figurative)
Usage
Masmar first means the nail, the hardware item: you drive (ydeqq) a masmar into the wall. The plural is msamer. Used figuratively and informally, it describes a stingy person who gives nothing away: a friend who never pays, or a teacher who refuses to give the slightest mark. The word is then used as a predicate (rak masmar, "you're stingy") and in a teasing tone rather than as a serious insult. Context tells you which of the two senses is meant.
Example
جيبلي المطرقة باش ندق هاد المسمار
jibli el matra9a bach ndo9 had el masmar
“Bring me the hammer so I can drive in this nail.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “masmar” but also “mesmar”, “msmar” and “mosmar”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “masmar” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “nail”; “clove (mesmar l-qronfel)”: mesmar in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “nail”; “guaranteed steady income (figurative)”: mesmar in Tunisian.