kaabar كعبر
Tunisian Derja · verb
“kaabar” (كعبر) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to roll into a ball, shape into a ball.
Meanings
- to roll into a ball, shape into a ball
- to knead into small balls (dough, meat)
Usage
Kaabar is a transitive verb. It refers to the gesture of rolling something between the hands to give it a round shape: a ball of dough, ground meat, crumpled paper. It is heard mostly in cooking and domestic life. It is conjugated like a four-consonant verb: kaabar in the past, ykaabar in the present, kaabru in the plural imperative. The reflexive form tkaabar applies to something that curls up into a ball, for example someone huddling up. In conversation it can also be used figuratively. That sense depends on context: better to have it clarified than to guess.
Example
كعبر العجينة وحطها في الطاوة.
kaabar el 3jina w 7otha fi tawa.
“Roll the dough into a ball and put it in the pan.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kaabar” but also “ka3bar”, “k3abar”, “kaabr” and “ka3ber”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.