caporal

English

Etymology 1

From French caporal.

Noun

caporal (uncountable)

1. A type of shag tobacco.
   • 1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 44, in Of Human Bondage:

     [T]he seats were uncomfortable, the place was crowded, the air thick with caporal horrible to breathe, but in their young enthusiasm they were indifferent.

   • 1928, Jean Rhys, Quartet, Penguin, published 2000, page 7:

     She had been sitting there for nearly an hour and a half, and during that time she had drunk two glasses of black coffee, smoked six caporal cigarettes and read the week's Candide.

Etymology 2

From Spanish caporal.

Noun

caporal (plural caporals)

1. (Latin America) A foreman or overseer.

Anagrams

• crapola

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kə.puˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kə.poˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ka.poˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al

Noun

caporal m (plural caporals)

1. (military) corporal

Further reading

• “caporal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “caporal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “caporal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “caporal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian caporale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pɔ.ʁal/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

caporal m (plural caporaux, feminine caporale)

1. (military) corporal
2. caporal (tobacco)

Derived terms

• caporal-chef

Further reading

• “caporal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Noun

caporal m (apocopated)

1. apocopic form of caporale