masmout مسموط
Tunisian Derja · adjective
“masmout” (مسموط) is an adjective in Tunisian Derja meaning boiled in water.
Meanings
- boiled in water
- hard-boiled (egg)
Usage
Masmout describes a food simply cooked in water. Its most common use is 3dham masmout, the hard-boiled egg, a usual part of sandwiches, fricassé or méchouia salad. It agrees: 3adhma masmouta, one hard-boiled egg. The word contrasts with 3dham maqli (fried egg) or 3ejja (omelette). Informal, everyday register, heard mainly in the kitchen and at the sandwich shop. For an English speaker, note: 3dham means 'eggs' and not 'bones' in this context, which makes the expression confusing at first.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “masmout” but also “mesmout”, “masmouta” and “msmout”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.