mssasa مصاصة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“mssasa” (مصاصة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning baby's pacifier, dummy.
Meanings
- baby's pacifier, dummy
- lollipop (candy on a stick)
Usage
Mssasa is a feminine noun formed on the root meaning "to suck". It refers to the thing you suck: first the pacifier given to a baby to calm them, then the lollipop, the candy on a stick. Context is enough to tell the two meanings apart. The word is colloquial and used mostly within the family, with children. With the article, it is lmssasa; "a pacifier" is wa7d lmssasa. For the candy, many speakers also say "sucette" in the French way.
Example
عطي المصاصة للدري راه كيبكي
3ti lmssasa l drri rah kaybki
“Give the baby the pacifier, he's crying.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mssasa” but also “mosasa”, “massasa”, “msasa” and “mssassa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.