mouta موتة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“mouta” (موتة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning a death, manner of dying.
Meanings
- a death, manner of dying
Usage
Mouta is the singular-instance noun derived from mout. It refers to a particular death, often qualified: mouta zwina ("a good death", a peaceful one), mouta khayba ("a dreadful death"). It is readily used with the verb mat: mat mouta…, "he died a … death". It also appears in wishes or curses, where one must be careful about tone. For death in general, one rather says mout. The word is common in speech and belongs to the colloquial or neutral register.
Example
الله يرحمو، مات موتة زوينة
lah yr7mo, mat mouta zwina
“May God have mercy on him, he had a good death.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mouta” but also “mota” and “mawta”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “mouta” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
The same word also exists in Tunisian Derja, written موتى, where it means “the dead, the deceased”; “deceased victims (accident)”: mouta in Tunisian.