m3foun معفون
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“m3foun” (معفون) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning rotten, spoiled.
Meanings
- rotten, spoiled
- awful, very bad (slang)
Usage
M3foun is said first of food that is rotten or moldy: a fruit, bread, meat. The feminine is m3founa and the plural m3fonin. In informal speech, especially among young people, it also describes something very bad or pathetic, such as a match, a film or a situation. Applied to a person, it becomes insulting and means "pathetic, nasty person." It should therefore be used with care. The corresponding verb is t3effen, "to rot."
Example
هاد الخبز معفون، ما تاكلوش
had lkhobz m3foun, ma takloush
“This bread is moldy, don't eat it.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “m3foun” but also “m3fon”, “ma3foun” and “me3foun”. 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 “m3foun” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “rotten, mouldy”; “filthy, grimy”: ma3foun in Algerian.