tarbouch طربوش
Algerian Darja · noun
“tarbouch” (طربوش) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning red conical cap with tassel.
Meanings
- red conical cap with tassel
- traditional ceremonial headgear
Usage
Tarbouch refers to the red felt headwear, conical or truncated in shape, often decorated with a black tassel. The word mainly evokes the Ottoman era, traditional Algiers outfits, elders, and costumes worn at festivals, weddings or performances. Today the object is rare in daily life and the word is used mostly to evoke or describe it. The plural is trabech. Not to be confused with the chechia, a softer and more common cap.
Example
جدي كان يلبس طربوش أحمر في الأعراس.
jeddi kan yelbes tarbouch ahmar fel a3ras.
“My grandfather used to wear a red tarbouch at weddings.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tarbouch” but also “tarbouche”, “6arbouch” and “tarbuch”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 6 is emphatic ta (ط).
Type “tarbouch” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “hat, headwear”; “fez, traditional red cap”: terbouch in Moroccan.