bettieħ

Maltese

Alternative forms

• bettiħ, bittiħ

Etymology

From Arabic بِطِّيخ (biṭṭīḵ). The etymologically more justified (and prescriptively preferred) spelling bettiħ is very rare in practice since the word is treated as belonging to the common measure C-e-CC-ie-C. (The phonemes /iː/ and /ɪː/ are merged before /ħ/ and /ʔ/.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛtˈtɪːħ/

Noun

bettieħ m (collective, singulative bettieħa, plural btietaħ, paucal bettiħat or bettiħiet)

1. melon, melons
2. (Gozo, humorous) testicles of a donkey