far

mt-noun

far m (plural firien or fariet, feminine fara)

firien (plural)
fariet (plural)
fara (feminine)

Inherited from Arabic فَأْر (faʔr, “mouse”).


dib

From Arabic ذِئْب (ḏiʔb). Compare Moroccan Arabic ديب (dīb), Egyptian Arabic ديب (dīb).


lupu

Dicentrarchus labrax
Dicentrarchus labrax#Translingual


debba

From Arabic دَابَّة (dābba, “mount, beast of burden”).


volpi

mt-noun

volpi m (plural volpijiet, feminine volpi mara)

volpijiet (plural)
volpi mara (feminine)

Borrowed from Italian volpe. Doublet of gilpa.


ġemel

ġemel m (plural iġmla or ġmula, feminine ġemla)

iġmla (plural)
ġmula (plural)
ġemla (feminine)


żiemel

żiemel m (plural żwiemel, feminine debba, diminutive żwejmel)

żwiemel (plural)
debba (feminine)
żwejmel (diminutive)

From Arabic زَامِل (zāmil, “horse or wild ass”), related to زَامِلَة (zāmila, “(she-)camel used to carrying something”).


fenek

mt-noun

fenek m (plural fniek, paucal fenkiet, feminine fenka)

fniek (plural)
fenkiet (paucal)
fenka (feminine)

From Arabic فَنَك (fanak, “fennec fox”).

Għalliema fl-istat Amerikan ta’ Idaho qed taffaċja l-possibilta’ ta’ azzjoni dixxiplinarja wara li qatlet fenek fil-klassi quddiem l-istudenti sekondarji.

2014 November 16, “Toqtol fenek quddiem klassi sħiħa”, in NETnews.com.mt, archived from the original on 2020-11-01:

A teacher in the American state of Idaho is facing the possibility of disciplinary action after she killed a rabbit in class in front of high school students.


liebru

liebru m (plural liebri, feminine liebra, diminutive lebrot or leprot)

liebri (plural)
liebra (feminine)
lebrot (diminutive)
leprot (diminutive)


ors

Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *orssos
Latin ursus
Italian orsobor.
Maltese ors
Borrowed from Italian orso and/or Sicilian ursu, both from Latin ursus. The Maltese o- may point to Italian origin, but can also be explained through a native development.


qattusa

mt-noun

qattusa f (plural qtates, masculine qattus)


ljunfant

Ultimately from Latin elephās, elephantem (“elephant”), with contamination of ljun (“lion”). Compare Italian leonfante, leofante, Sicilian liufanti.


ġurdien

ġurdien m (plural ġrieden, feminine ġurdiena, diminutive ġrejden)

ġrieden (plural)
ġurdiena (feminine)
ġrejden (diminutive)

From Arabic جُرْذَان (jurḏān), plural of جُرَذ (juraḏ, “rat”).


nemes

nemes m (plural inmsa or nemsijiet, feminine nemsa)

inmsa (plural)
nemsijiet (plural)
nemsa (feminine)

From Arabic نِمْس (nims), though the Maltese form is slightly irregular and points to an underlying *namas.


babun

babun m (plural babuni, feminine babuna)

Borrowed from English baboon. Doublet of babwin.


ċerv

ċerv m (plural ċriev, feminine ċerva, diminutive ċrejjev)

ċriev (plural)
ċerva (feminine)
ċrejjev (diminutive)


baqra

baqra f (plural baqar, paucal baqriet, diminutive bqajra)

baqar (plural)
baqriet (paucal)
bqajra (diminutive)


nagħaġ

Back-formation from nagħġa, from Arabic نَعْجة (naʕja, “ewe”).


felu

felu m (plural fliewi or filwa or fliewa, feminine felwa)

fliewi (plural)
filwa (plural)
fliewa (plural)
felwa (feminine)

foal, colt (a preadult horse or ass which has been weaned)


farfett il-lejl

farfett il-lejl m (plural friefet il-lejl)

farfett (“butterfly”) + il- (definite article) + lejl (“night”), literally “butterfly of the night”.


skwiril

Borrowed from English squirrel, from Middle English squirel, from Anglo-Norman esquirel and Old French escurel, from a Vulgar Latin development of Latin sciūrus, ultimately from Ancient Greek σκίουρος (skíouros). Doublet of skojjattlu.


skojjattlu

Borrowed from Sicilian scuiàttulu and/or Italian scoiattolo, from a Vulgar Latin development of Latin sciūrus, ultimately from Ancient Greek σκίουρος (skíouros). Doublet of skwiril.


ġeru

mt-noun

ġeru m (plural ġriewi or (Gozo) ġriewa, feminine ġerwa, diminutive ġrejju)

ġriewi (plural)
ġriewa (plural)
ġerwa (feminine)
ġrejju (diminutive)


ferħ

Wara l-bibien,
fit-tul tat-toroq twal,
batejt
il-għeja
il-qtigħ ta’ qalb,
batejt fuq kollox il-mistħija;
iżda ġarrabt ukoll
il-ferħ u l-għaxqa
li kull tallab iħoss
x’ħin jasal wisq għajjien bil-ħorġa f’idu
bil-ħobż għand ommu mġewħa.

1970, Anton Buttigieg, “It-Tallab”, in Fl-Arena:

Ta’ ferħ u serħ imlietni, u bħall-għasafar
u l-friefet jien għamilt: minn fjur għal fjur
ħsiebi tar bħal farfett, taħt siġra kbira
qalbi fesdqet il-għana bħal għasfur.

1970, Anton Buttigieg, “Fil-Ġnien”, in Fl-Arena:

Il-Għanja ta’ Żgħożiti
- bil-ferħ insiġtha jien, -
hi għanja lis-Sbuħija
Sultana tal-ħolqien.

1949, Anton Buttigieg, “Il-Għanja ta’ Żgħożiti”, in Mill-Gallarija ta’ Żgħożiti:


xadin

xadin m (plural xadini, feminine xadina)

From dialectal Arabic, from Persian شادی (šâdi, “monkey”). Compare Algerian Arabic شادي (šādi, “monkey”) and Gulf Arabic شاذي (šāḏi, “monkey”).


ħmar

Root
 ħ-m-r (2)
 0 terms
From Arabic حِمَار (ḥimār).

(figuratively) ignorant, foolish person; jackass


ħanżir

ħanżir m (plural ħnieżer, feminine ħanżira)


qażquż

From the verb qażqaż (“to grunt”), from regional Arabic قَزْقَزَ (qazqaza), قَصْقَصَ (qaṣqaṣa, “to cry, call, make noise”).


bagħal

bagħal m (plural bgħula or ibgħal or bgħal, feminine bagħla, diminutive bgħajjel)

bgħula (plural)
ibgħal (plural)
bgħal (plural)
bagħla (feminine)
bgħajjel (diminutive)
bagħli (first-person singular)
bagħalna (first-person singular)
bagħlek (second-person singular)
bagħalkom (second-person singular)
bagħlu (masculine singular third-person)
bagħalha (feminine singular third-person)
bagħalhom (singular third-person)


ħaruf

ħaruf m (plural ħrief, feminine ħarufa, diminutive ħrejjef or ħrajjef or ħwajref)

ħrief (plural)
ħarufa (feminine)
ħrejjef (diminutive)
ħrajjef (diminutive)
ħwajref (diminutive)


qanfud

qanfud m (plural qniefed, feminine qanfuda)

From Arabic قُنْفُذ (qunfuḏ), through a common Maghrebi variant with a long ū for the second vowel; compare Tunisian Arabic قنفود (qanfūd), Moroccan Arabic قنفود (qanfūd).


gendus

Probably of Berber origin. Compare Kabyle agenduz (“calf”).


għoġol

għoġol m (plural għoġġiela or għeġejjel, feminine għoġla)

għoġġiela (plural)
għeġejjel (plural)
għoġla (feminine)

/ˈɔˤː.d͡ʒɔl/


żarmuġ

żarmuġ m (plural żrameġ, paucal żarmuġiet, feminine żarmuġa, diminutive żrajmeġ)

żrameġ (plural)
żarmuġiet (paucal)
żarmuġa (feminine)
żrajmeġ (diminutive)


muntun

Borrowed from Sicilian muntuni, from Latin moltō, from Gaulish *multon-, from Proto-Celtic *moltos (“wether”). The plural mtaten instead of expected *mnaten seems to imply that the singular was formerly (also) pronounced *muttun.

laħam tal-muntun


gidi

gidi m (plural gidjien or gidien, feminine gidja)

gidjien (plural)
gidien (plural)
gidja (feminine)


ajl

Possibly from Arabic أيّل (ʔayyil, ʔuyyal, “wild goat, ibex” as well as “deer”). The already ambiguous word may have been transferred to the porcupine, perhaps on account of its spines vis-à-vis the wild goat’s pointed horns. It must be considered that many of the inherited Arabic animal names lost their reference points in the limited fauna of the Maltese islands, which made these words liable to semantic reassignment. Compare Maltese fenek (“rabbit”) from Arabic فَنَك (fanak, “fennec fox”).


tgħal

mt-noun

tgħal m (plural tgħala or tgħul, feminine tgħala)

tgħala (plural)
tgħul (plural)
tgħala (feminine)


tgħal

mt-verb

tgħal (imperfect jitgħal, past participle mitgħal, verbal noun tgħil or titgħil)

jitgħal (imperfect)
mitgħal (participle past)
tgħil (noun-from-verb)
titgħil (noun-from-verb)
tgħalt (first-person masculine perfect singular)
tgħalt (masculine perfect second-person singular)
tgħal (masculine perfect singular third-person)
tgħalna (first-person masculine perfect singular)
tgħaltu (masculine perfect plural second-person)
tgħalu (masculine perfect plural third-person)
tgħalt (feminine first-person perfect singular)
tgħalt (feminine perfect second-person singular)
tgħalet (feminine perfect singular third-person)
tgħalna (feminine first-person perfect singular)
tgħaltu (feminine perfect plural second-person)
tgħalu (feminine perfect plural third-person)
nitgħal (first-person imperfect masculine singular)
titgħal (imperfect masculine second-person singular)
jitgħal (imperfect masculine singular third-person)
nitgħalu (first-person imperfect masculine singular)
titgħalu (imperfect masculine plural second-person)
jitgħalu (imperfect masculine plural third-person)
nitgħal (feminine first-person imperfect singular)
titgħal (feminine imperfect second-person singular)
titgħal (feminine imperfect singular third-person)
nitgħalu (feminine first-person imperfect singular)
titgħalu (feminine imperfect plural second-person)
jitgħalu (feminine imperfect plural third-person)
tgħal (imperative second-person singular)
tgħalu (imperative plural second-person)


erħa

mt-noun

erħa f (plural erħiet or erieħ, diminutive erejħa)

erħiet (plural)
erieħ (plural)
erejħa (diminutive)

From Maghrebi Arabic أَرْخَة (ʔarḵa). Compare Tunisian Arabic أرخة (ʔarḵa).


gellux

gellux m (plural glielex, paucal gelluxiet, feminine gelluxa, diminutive glejlex)

glielex (plural)
gelluxiet (paucal)
gelluxa (feminine)
glejlex (diminutive)


għaniqa

/aˤːˈnɪː.ʔa/

a young goat (at roughly one year of age)


żiemel tax-xmara

żiemel tax-xmara m (plural żwiemel tax-xmara)


qattus saqajh suwed

Felis nigripes
Felis nigripes#Translingual


qattus rasu ċatta

Prionailurus planiceps
Prionailurus planiceps#Translingual

flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps)


qattus tat-tikek lewn is-sadid

rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus)


qattus imraħħam

Pardofelis marmorata
Pardofelis marmorata#Translingual


ors xufftejh kbar

Melursus ursinus
Melursus ursinus#Translingual


ors tax-xemx

/ˌɔrs taʃˈʃɛmʃ/


ors tan-nuċċali

Tremarctos ornatus
Tremarctos ornatus#Translingual


jena bl-istrixxi

Hyaena hyaena
Hyaena hyaena#Translingual


gilpa

Borrowed from Sicilian gulpi. Doublet of volpi.


babwin

babwin m (plural babwini, feminine babwina)

Borrowed from Italian babuino. Doublet of babun.