ma3dnous معدنوس
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ma3dnous” (معدنوس) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning parsley.
Meanings
- parsley
Usage
Ma3dnous is parsley, a herb found everywhere in Moroccan cooking: tajines, chermoula, salads, harira, kefta. It is bought in bunches at the greengrocer's, often together with coriander, qesbour. The two are used together so often that "qesbour w ma3dnous" is a fixed expression. Keep them apart: qesbour is coriander, ma3dnous is flat-leaf parsley. The word is a singular collective, and a handful of parsley is "chi 3ebra d lma3dnous". It is known throughout Morocco, with slight variations in pronunciation.
Example
زيد شوية ديال المعدنوس فالطاجين
zid chwiya dyal lma3dnous f tajine
“Add a little parsley to the tajine.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ma3dnous” but also “m3dnous”, “m3ednous”, “me3dnous” and “m3adnous”. 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 “ma3dnous” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “parsley”: ma3dnous in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “parsley”: ma3dnous in Tunisian.