babour بابور
Algerian Darja · noun
“babour” (بابور) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning ship, boat.
Meanings
- ship, boat
- ferry, passenger liner
Usage
Babour is the common word for a large boat, in particular the passenger ship or ferry linking Algeria to France or Spain. For the diaspora, it evokes the summer crossings: rkeb fi babour ("to take the boat"). The plural is bwaber. It appears in popular expressions and songs, for example babour ellouh ("the wooden boat"). For a small fishing boat, flouka is used instead. The word belongs to the familiar, everyday register, with no particular connotation.
Example
هاد الصيف رايحين نجيو فالبابور
had sif rayhin njiw f babour
“This summer, we're coming by boat.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “babour” but also “baboor”, “babor” and “babbour”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “babour” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “boat, ship”; “steamship, ferry”: babor in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “ship, boat”; “ferry”: babour in Tunisian.