Learn Arabic › B1 › قُبْطان
قُبْطان
captain (of a ship) /qubˈtˤɑːn/
nounB1#2661 most common
Also: skipper, ship's master, airline captain
Example sentences
هٰذا هو القُبْطان.
This is the captain.
القُبْطان يقود السفينة.
The captain steers the ship.
تحدّث القُبْطان مع البحّارة قبل الرحلة.
The captain spoke with the sailors before the voyage.
أصدر القُبْطان أوامره إلى الطاقم أثناء العاصفة.
The captain gave his orders to the crew during the storm.
اجتمع قَباطِنة السفن لمناقشة إجراءات السلامة الجديدة.
The ships' captains met to discuss the new safety procedures.
لم يتردد القُبْطان في اتخاذ قرار مصيري حين واجهت السفينة عاصفة عاتية في عرض المحيط.
The captain did not hesitate to make a fateful decision when the ship faced a violent storm in the open ocean.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | قُبْطانٌ | قَباطِنةٌ |
| Genitive | قُبْطانٍ | قَباطِنةٍ |
| Accusative | قُبْطاناً | قَباطِنةً |
| Vocative | يا قُبْطانُ | يا قَباطِنةُ |
Word family
قُبْطانcaptain (of a ship, and by extension a plane or team)
قَباطِنةcaptains (plural)
قُبْطانةfemale captain
رُبّانhelmsman, ship's captain (older, unrelated Arabic term)
قُبْطان الفريقteam captain (sports)
Etymology
Qubṭān entered Arabic as a maritime loanword rather than growing from a native triliteral root. Most accounts trace it through Ottoman Turkish kaptan, itself taken from Italian capitano, from Medieval Latin capitaneus, ultimately from Latin caput, meaning head. Arabic reshaped the borrowed word to fit its own sound pattern, giving qubṭān the form it has today. An older, separate Arabic term for a ship's helmsman, rubbān, has a different background tied to Greek and Syriac.
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