m3el9a معلقة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“m3el9a” (معلقة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning spoon.
Meanings
- spoon
- spoonful
Usage
M3el9a (often m3il9a) is the everyday word for "spoon" in Morocco. It is used at the table and in the kitchen, and also serves as a unit of measure in recipes: m3el9a dyal sokkar, "a spoonful of sugar". For a teaspoon, you specify m3el9a sghira; for a ladle, a different word is normally used. The usual plural is m3ale9. Do not confuse it with mo3alla9a, "suspended", which is written the same way in Arabic but pronounced differently.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m3el9a” but also “m3il9a”, “m3al9a”, “m3elqa” and “mo3al9a”. 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; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.