All dialects: أملط - ملط

[Hemza]

Hello,
I've heard from an Egyptian I know the word ملط and I think it means naked or nude. Does anyone know where lies the word's origin? Is it Arabic? And is it used somewhere else? I've never heard a Maghrebi using it but I can't speak for others.

Thank you .

 

[fdb]

أملط “hairless, thin-bearded” is classical. malṭ “naked” is listed in the Badawi/Hinds Egyptian dictionary, and (as Egyptian dialect) also in Wehr.

 

[I.K.S.]

I've never heard a Maghrebi using it but I can't speak for others.

It is widely used in Morocco, as fdb mentioned meaning; thin-bearded or beardless, In the west the derivation ملاطي is used to mean; unclad as a sarcastic synonym.

 

[Hemza]

Thanks to both of you

It is widely used in Morocco, as fdb mentioned meaning; thin-bearded or beardless, In the west the derivation ملاطي is used to mean; unclad as a sarcastic synonym.

I had no idea, no one ever used it amongst my relatives (which is not surprising given the very low amount of vocabulary some use).

 

[I.K.S.]

(which is not surprising given the very low amount of vocabulary some use).

I agree on this, even her in Casablanca, sometimes it is like a cultural shock when i meet someone from the same region who has no idea about a term which is very common among my family and other relatives and people i know, Sometimes my words unconsciously end up putting smile on their faces, I suppose because they spend most of their time in the cities and are rarely exposed to the countryside lifestyle, there where people still keep the usage of rare, fancy, original words.

 

[fenakhay]

In my dialect, we have the verb ملّط which means to smoothen a surface. I don't know if it is used elsewhere in Morocco. It is related to baldness since the head is smoothened lol.

 

[I.K.S.]

ملّط which means to smoothen a surface

Yes, ملّط also; to rub along the surface of a traditional house with clay plaster.

 

[Ghabi]

It is widely used in Morocco

Is it invariable in Moroccan, or you can change it for gender and number?

 

[Hemza]

I agree on this, even her in Casablanca, sometimes it is like a cultural shock when i meet someone from the same region who has no idea about a term which is very common among my family and other relatives and people i know, Sometimes my words unconsciously end up putting smile on their faces, I suppose because they spend most of their time in the cities and are rarely exposed to the countryside lifestyle, there where people still keep the usage of rare, fancy, original words.

No offense and although a part of my family are amongst them but I feel like urban people (at least in Morocco) or people whose families arrived more recently and settled in cities and who adopt the urban way of life, tend to lose a big part of their traditional vocabulary to the benefit of a more "globalised" one if I may express myself this way. How many words traditionaly used in Moroccan dialects and which aren't understood anymore by a lot of urban dwellers as you said? .

Is it invariable in Moroccan, or you can change it for gender and number?

Given its meaning, I guess it is mostly used amongst men . At least, I can't imagine a man telling this to a woman. I can't speak for women between themselves.

 

[Schem]

أملط means hairless and/or smooth in Najdi Arabic; its feminine is ملطاء. A verb مَلَط also exists with the meaning to remove hair.