żagħka

Maltese

Etymology

Inherited from a Maghrebi Arabic word for “posterior”. Compare Tunisian Arabic زعكة (zaʕka, “woman’s buttocks”). Probably at first used for a homosexual man (treated as the main sense by Vassalli) and then generalised.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzaː.ka/
• IPA^(key): /ˈzaˤː.ka/ (archaic)

Noun

żagħka f (plural żagħkiet or żgħaki)

1. (vulgar) a person of doubtful sexual morals
   1. (male) an effeminate man, catamite, or homosexual
   2. (female) a whore, slut

      Synonym: qaħba

2. someone evil, base