kabitan كابتن
Moroccan Darija · noun
“kabitan” (كابتن) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning sports team captain.
Meanings
- sports team captain
- captain, pilot in command
- captain (military rank)
Usage
Kabitan is an adapted loanword, very common in football vocabulary: people speak of the team's kabitan, the one who wears the armband. It is also used for the commander of a plane or a boat, and for the military rank. It takes the article l- (l-kabitan) and the plural is rare. Pronunciation varies: kabitan, kapitan or kaptan depending on the speaker. In colloquial speech, it is sometimes used to address, with respect and warmth, someone who leads a group. In standard Arabic, other terms are used instead, but kabitan remains the natural form in speech.
Example
شكون الكابيتان ديال الفرقة هاد العام؟
chkoun l-kabitan dyal l-fer9a had l3am?
“Who is the team captain this year?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kabitan” but also “captain”, “kaptan”, “kapitan” and “capitin”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.