ma3oun ماعون
Moroccan Darija · noun
“ma3oun” (ماعون) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning dishes, kitchen utensils.
Meanings
- dishes, kitchen utensils
- container, utensil (single item)
Usage
Ma3oun means dishes and, more broadly, kitchen utensils: plates, glasses, pots. It is mostly used with the article, lma3oun, as a collective noun. The plural mwa3en is very common in household chores: ghsel lmwa3en (do the dishes), jme3 lmwa3en (clear away, put away the dishes). The word belongs to the everyday, family register. Note that it does not refer to one specific object like "plate" (tebsil) or "glass" (kas), but to the whole set. Don't confuse it with ma3ouna, which means "help, assistance".
Example
نوض غسل الماعون قبل ما تخرج
noud ghsel lma3oun 9bel ma tkhrej
“Get up and do the dishes before you go out.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ma3oun” but also “ma3on”. 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 “ma3oun” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “dishes, kitchen utensils”; “container, pot”: mé3oun in Tunisian.