milgħaqa

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic مِلْعَقة (milʕaqa). A more etymological spelling would be *milagħqa, because the underlying form is *milgħqa, where a was added before għ to remove the inadmissible consonant cluster (as similarly in mibegħda). The spelling milgħaqa implies an Arabic *مِلْعاقة (*milʕāqa). However, Maltese does not apply the etymological principle strictly and milgħaqa is closer to the native interpretation of the word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪˈlaːʔa/
• IPA^(key): /mɪˈlaˤːʔa/ (archaic)

Noun

1. teaspoon; coffee spoon

Synonyms

• kuċċarina (commoner)

See also

• mgħarfa