marokkanisch.com

Words

Mezyan

In Moroccan Arabic, mezyan means “good”, also “pretty”; as an exclamation it means “all right”.

What it is

Richard S. Harrell’s dictionary of Moroccan Arabic gives “good” and “pretty” for mezyan, and “well” as an adverb. The diminutive mziwen means “cute, nice”.

The comparative is not formed from mezyan itself but with ḥsen, “better”: “t-tran ḥsn mn l-kar”, the train is better than the bus.

Where it comes from

Mezyan is formed from the participle of the verb zyan, “to become good, beautiful”; Harrell gives “to become better, more beautiful” for zyan. In Standard Arabic the same root gives zāna, “to adorn”, and zain, “beauty, beautiful”.

When

Said on its own, “mezyan!” is an exclamation of agreement, “all right”.

At a glance

Moroccan Arabic
mezyan; diminutive mziwen; comparative ḥsen
Arabic script
مزيان, feminine مزيانة, plural مزيانين, مزيانات

Where it comes from

At home throughout the country, with no place of origin named by a source.

When you come across it

Everyday

Goes with it

WordsZwinIn Moroccan Arabic, zwin means “beautiful, pretty” and is also used for “good”.WordsBsaha“B'ssaha”, literally “with health”, is said to someone who is eating or drinking, wearing new clothes, or coming from the barber or the baths; the reply is “Allah yaʿtik ssaha”, may Allah give you health too.WordsWakhaIn Moroccan Arabic, wakha is the word for “agreed, all right”; as a conjunction it means “although, even if”.

More from Words

Pass it on

As a link, by WhatsApp or email.

WhatsAppEmailFacebookX

Last checked on 27 Oct 2026. 4 sources, 0 of them primary (authority, UNESCO, operator).

  1. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), English-Moroccan (1963), Einträge mezyan, mziwen, zyan, ḥsen. https://archive.org/details/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  2. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), English-Moroccan (1963), Einträge mezyan, mziwen, zyan, ḥsen. https://archive.org/details/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  3. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), English-Moroccan (1963), Einträge mezyan, mziwen, zyan, ḥsen. https://archive.org/details/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  4. Peace Corps Morocco (Internet Archive): Moroccan Arabic Textbook (2011), Adjektive und Steigerung. https://archive.org/download/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic/Moroccan%20Arabic%20Textbook.pdf. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  5. Wiktionary (en): مزيان. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/مزيان. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  6. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), English-Moroccan (1963), Einträge mezyan, mziwen, zyan, ḥsen. https://archive.org/details/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  7. Hans Wehr, J Milton Cowan (Hg.), Spoken Language Services (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 3. Auflage 1976, Einträge زان, زين. https://archive.org/details/dictionary-of-modern-written-arabic-hans. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  8. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), English-Moroccan (1963), Einträge mezyan, mziwen, zyan, ḥsen. https://archive.org/details/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  9. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), English-Moroccan (1963), Einträge mezyan, mziwen, zyan, ḥsen. https://archive.org/details/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  10. Peace Corps Morocco (Internet Archive): Moroccan Arabic Textbook (2011), Adjektive und Steigerung. https://archive.org/download/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic/Moroccan%20Arabic%20Textbook.pdf. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.
  11. Richard S. Harrell (Hg.), Thomas Fox, Mohammed Abu-Talib, Georgetown University Press (Internet Archive): A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English (1966), English-Moroccan (1963), Einträge mezyan, mziwen, zyan, ḥsen. https://archive.org/details/RichardS.HarrellThomasFoxMohammedAbuTalibADictionaryOfMoroccanArabic. Checked on 27 Oct 2026.