While the Maltese have borrowed plenty of words from the British, they have also lent them a handful – ‘spitchered’ is one of them.

Derived from the Maltese word spiċċa, the 1920 naval slang entry means “rendered inoperative, ruined”, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Likewise, sahha, lampuki and dghaisa were probably imported into the English language thanks to the thousands of British servicemen and tourists who came into regular contact with them.

The word dghaisa even crowned Syamantak Payra the 2012 champion of the South Asian Spelling Bee.

Read more on Times of Malta.

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