Learn Romanian › capitan

capitan

captain /kəpiˈtan/

noun#3080 most common

Also: chief, skipper

Example sentences

El este căpitan.
He is a captain.
Tatăl meu este căpitan în armată.
My father is a captain in the army.
Căpitanul echipei noastre a marcat golul decisiv.
The captain of our team scored the decisive goal.
Căpitanul vasului a dat ordinul de plecare înainte de furtună.
The ship's captain gave the order to depart before the storm.
Fără calmul căpitanului, echipajul s-ar fi panicat în timpul naufragiului.
Without the captain's calm, the crew would have panicked during the shipwreck.
Deși fusese retrogradat, fostul căpitan continua să fie respectat de întregul echipaj, ca și cum gradul nu i-ar fi fost niciodată luat.
Although he had been demoted, the former captain continued to be respected by the entire crew, as if the rank had never been taken from him.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativecăpitan (căpitanul)căpitani (căpitanii)
Genitivecăpitan (căpitanului)căpitani (căpitanilor)
Accusativecăpitan (căpitanul)căpitani (căpitanii)
Vocativecăpitanecăpitanilor

Word family

căpitănieharbor master's office; captaincy
căpitănescof or belonging to a captain
căpeteniechieftain, leader
caphead

Etymology

Romanian căpitan was borrowed from Italian capitano, part of a wave of Romance vocabulary that entered Romanian in the 18th and 19th centuries as the language modernized and moved away from earlier Slavic and Ottoman military terms. The Italian word goes back to Late Latin capitaneus, meaning chief or leader. That word was built on caput, meaning head, so a captain is literally a head man, the one at the head of a ship, unit, or team.

Learn Romanian the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,027 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free

More Romanian words

viermewormrezervăreserve (a stock or supply kept for future use)primăvarăspring (the season)crudraw (uncooked)dobitocidiot (a foolish or stupid person)călcato step on, to tread onlordlord (British nobleman)amabilkind, amiable