caper

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪpɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪpə/
• Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: ca‧per

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Clipping of capriole.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. A playful leap or jump.
2. A jump while dancing.
3. A prank or practical joke.
4. (usually in the plural) Playful behaviour.
5. (figuratively) A crime, especially an elaborate heist, or a narrative about such a crime.
   • 2022, Jennifer Egan, “i, the Protagonist”, in The Candy House:

     His caper had failed to find a comic resolution. Instead, there had been a genre switch, and the madcap adventure had turned serious. Or had this bleakness underlain the caper from the start?

   • 2025 April 9, Lucy Knight, “Thomas Pynchon announces Shadow Ticket, his first novel in more than a decade”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The elusive 87-year-old author’s new book is a noir caper set during the big band era following a detective in search of a cheese heiress[.]

Derived terms

• caper-cutting
• caper cutting
• caper merchant
• capersome
• cut a caper

Related terms

• cab
• caprine

Translations

playful leap

• Bulgarian: подскачане (bg) n (podskačane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雀躍 / 雀跃 (zh) (quèyuè)

• Czech: výskok (cs) m, poskok (cs) m
• Dutch: kapriool c
• Finnish: loikka (fi)
• French: cabriole (fr) f
• Galician: cabriola f
• Hungarian: ugrálás (hu), ugrabugrálás, ugrabugra (hu), ugrándozás (hu)
• Italian: sobbalzo (it) m, saltellamento m
• Romanian: salt (ro) n, săritură (ro) f, tumbă (ro) f, țopăit (ro) n
• Russian: скачо́к (ru) m (skačók), прыжо́к (ru) m (pryžók), коле́нце (ru) n (kolénce)
• Spanish: cabriola (es) f
• Swedish: glädjesprång n, glädjeskutt n

crime — see crime

Verb

caper (third-person singular simple present capers, present participle capering, simple past and past participle capered)

1. To leap or jump about in a sprightly or playful manner.
   • 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:

     He capered before them down towards the fortyfoot hole, fluttering his winglike hands, leaping nimbly, Mercury’s hat quivering in the fresh wind that bore back to them his brief birdsweet cries.

2. To jump as part of a dance.
3. To engage in playful behaviour.
4. (obsolete) To run at speed.
   • 1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew:

     Then up Jack got.
     And home did trot,
     As fast as he could caper;
     Dame Gill did the job,
     To plaster his nob,
     With vinegar and brown paper.

   • 1871, John Ramsay, The Selected Writings of John Ramsay, Aberdeen: William Blackwood and Sons, page 245:

     So, off we go, ever and anon capering along the streets at a speed which seems rather superfluous in those who have the whole day at their commandment, as Falstaff says.

Derived terms

• caperer
• outcaper

Translations

jump about playfully

• Bulgarian: подскачам (bg) (podskačam), подрипвам (bg) (podripvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雀躍 / 雀跃 (zh) (quèyuè)

• Czech: poskakovat impf, křepčit impf
• Dutch: opspringen (nl), bokkesprong maken
• Finnish: loikkia (fi), pomppia (fi)
• French: cabrioler (fr), batifoler (fr)
• Galician: cabriolar (gl)
• Hebrew: קִפֵּץ (kipéts)
• Hungarian: ugrál (hu), ugrabugrál (hu), ugrándozik (hu)
• Italian: saltellare (it)
• Māori: pōteketeke, pōtēteke
• Romanian: sări (ro), zburda (ro), țopăi (ro)
• Russian: скака́ть (ru) (skakátʹ)
• Swedish: skutta (sv)
• Ukrainian: підстрибувати (pidstrybuvaty), підскакувати (pidskakuvaty)

Etymology 2

A caper bush.

From Latin capparis, from Ancient Greek κάππαρις (kápparis).

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. The pungent grayish green flower bud of the European and Oriental caper (Capparis spinosa), which is pickled and eaten.

   Synonym: caperberry

2. A plant of the genus Capparis.

   Synonyms: caper bush, caper tree, caperberry

Derived terms

• bean-caper
• bean caper
• caperberry
• caper sauce
• caper spurge
• Indian caper

Translations

pickled bud of Capparis spinosa

• Arabic: كَبَر (ar) m (kabar), كَبَّار m (kabbār), قَبَّار m (qabbār), شَفَلَّح m (šafallaḥ), لَصَف m (laṣaf)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܩܲܦܵܪ m (qappār), ܟܲܦܵܪ (kappār), ܢܹܝܨܦܵܐ m (nēṣp̄ā), ܦܲܪܚܵܐ m (parḥā)

• Catalan: tàpera f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水瓜柳 (shuǐguāliǔ)

• Danish: kapers
• Dutch: kappertje (nl) n
• Esperanto: kaporo sg
• Estonian: kappar
• Finnish: kapris (fi), kapriksen nuppu
• French: câpre (fr) f
• Georgian: ჯონჯოლი (ka) (ǯonǯoli)
• German: Kaper (de) f
• Greek: κάπαρη (el) f (kápari)

  Ancient Greek: κάππαρις f (kápparis)

• Hebrew: צָלָף (he) m (ṣālā́p̄)
• Hungarian: kapribogyó (hu)
• Icelandic: kapers (is)
• Irish: capras m
• Italian: cappero (it) m
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 케이퍼 (keipeo)
• Latin: capparis f
• Norwegian: kapers pl
• Persian: کبر (fa) (kabar)
• Polish: kapar (pl)
• Portuguese: alcaparra (pt) f
• Romanian: caperă (ro) f
• Russian: ка́перс (ru) m (kápers)
• Scottish Gaelic: capar m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ка̏па̄р m, ка̏пра f

  Latin: kȁpār (sh) m, kȁpra (sh) f

• Sicilian: chiàpparu m
• Slovene: kapra (sl) f
• Spanish: alcaparra (es) f
• Swedish: kapris (sv)
• Turkish: gebre (tr)
• Ukrainian: ка́перс m (kápers)
• Welsh: caprysen f, capryn m
• Yiddish: קאַפּער m (kaper)

plant

• Arabic: كَبَر (ar) m (kabar), كَبَّار m (kabbār), قَبَّار m (qabbār), شَفَلَّح m (šafallaḥ), لَصَف m (laṣaf)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܩܲܦܵܪ (qappār), ܟܲܦܵܪ m (kappār), ܢܹܝܨܦܵܐ m (nēṣp̄ā), ܦܲܪܚܵܐ m (parḥā)

• Armenian: կապար (hy) (kapar)

  Old Armenian: կապար (kapar)

• Bulgarian: каперсник m (kapersnik)
• Catalan: taperera f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水瓜柳 (shuǐguāliǔ)

• Czech: kaparovník trnitý
• Finnish: kapris (fi)
• German: Kapernstrauch m
• Greek: κάπαρη (el) f (kápari)

  Ancient Greek: κάππαρις f (kápparis)

• Hebrew: צָלָף (he) m (ṣālā́p̄)
• Hungarian: kapri (hu)
• Irish: tor caprais m
• Italian: cappero (it) m
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 케이퍼 (keipeo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مارگیرە (margîre)

• Persian: کبر (fa) (kabar), کبار (fa) (kobbâr)
• Polish: kapar (pl) m
• Romanian: caper (ro) m
• Russian: ка́перс (ru) m (kápers)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ка̏па̄р m, ка̏пра f

  Latin: kȁpār (sh) m, kȁpra (sh) f

• Spanish: alcaparro (es) m
• Swedish: kapris (sv)
• Turkish: gebre otu (tr)
• Welsh: llwyn caprys m
• Xhosa: intsihlo

Further reading

• caper on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Dutch kaper.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

2. A vessel formerly used by the Dutch; privateer.

Translations

Dutch vessel — see privateer

Etymology 4

Shortening of capercaillie.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. (Scotland) The capercaillie.

Translations

capercaillie — see capercaillie

See also

• north-caper

Anagrams

• Pacer, crape, pacer, recap

French

Etymology

From English cap +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pe/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

caper

1. (finance) to cap (set a limit to)
2. (sports) to cap (award a player a cap for playing for their national team)

Conjugation

Conjugation of caper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	caper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	capant /ka.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		capé /ka.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cape /kap/	capes /kap/	cape /kap/	capons /ka.pɔ̃/	capez /ka.pe/	capent /kap/
	imperfect	capais /ka.pɛ/	capais /ka.pɛ/	capait /ka.pɛ/	capions /ka.pjɔ̃/	capiez /ka.pje/	capaient /ka.pɛ/
	past historic2	capai /ka.pe/	capas /ka.pa/	capa /ka.pa/	capâmes /ka.pam/	capâtes /ka.pat/	capèrent /ka.pɛʁ/
	future	caperai /ka.pʁe/	caperas /ka.pʁa/	capera /ka.pʁa/	caperons /ka.pʁɔ̃/	caperez /ka.pʁe/	caperont /ka.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	caperais /ka.pʁɛ/	caperais /ka.pʁɛ/	caperait /ka.pʁɛ/	caperions /ka.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	caperiez /ka.pə.ʁje/	caperaient /ka.pʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	cape /kap/	capes /kap/	cape /kap/	capions /ka.pjɔ̃/	capiez /ka.pje/	capent /kap/
	imperfect2	capasse /ka.pas/	capasses /ka.pas/	capât /ka.pa/	capassions /ka.pa.sjɔ̃/	capassiez /ka.pa.sje/	capassent /ka.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cape /kap/	—	capons /ka.pɔ̃/	capez /ka.pe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Indonesian

Etymology

Blend of cari (“seeking”) +‎ perhatian (“attention”), from calque of English attention-seeking.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃapər/ [ˈt͡ʃa.pər]
• Rhymes: -apər
• Syllabification: ca‧per

Adjective

capêr (comparative lebih caper, superlative paling caper)

1. (colloquial) attention-seeking

Further reading

• “caper”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Latin

Etymology

caper

From Proto-Italic *kapros, from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“buck, he-goat”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κάπρος (kápros, “boar”), Proto-Germanic *hafraz (“he-goat”), and Proto-Iranian *káfrah (“young goat, kid”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈka.pɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkaː.per]

Noun

caper m (genitive caprī, feminine capra); second declension

1. he-goat (a male goat, a billy goat)

   Synonyms: buccus, hircus

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

	singular	plural
nominative	caper	caprī
genitive	caprī	caprōrum
dative	caprō	caprīs
accusative	caprum	caprōs
ablative	caprō	caprīs
vocative	caper	caprī

Coordinate terms

• buccus
• haedus
• hircus

Related terms

• capellus
• capra
• caprigenus
• omnicarpus
• sēmicaper

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: capro, ⇒ caprone
• Gallo-Romance:
  • ⇒ French: chevron
    • → English: chevron
    • → Russian: шеврон (ševron)
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Portuguese: cabro, ⇒ cabrão
  • Spanish: cabro, ⇒ cabrón
• Borrowings:
  • → Scottish Gaelic: cabar

References

• “caper”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “caper”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “caper”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “caper”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “caper”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capere.

Verb

caper

1. to seize

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of caper

infinitive	simple	caper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	capant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		capé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cape	capes	cape	capons	capez	capent
	imperfect	capois, capoys	capois, capoys	capoit, capoyt	capions, capyons	capiez, capyez	capoient, capoyent
	past historic	capa	capas	capa	capasmes	capastes	caperent
	future	caperai, caperay	caperas	capera	caperons	caperez	caperont
	conditional	caperois, caperoys	caperois, caperoys	caperoit, caperoyt	caperions, caperyons	caperiez, caperyez	caperoient, caperoyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	cape	capes	cape	capons	capez	capent
	imperfect	capasse	capasses	capast	capassions	capassiez	capassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cape	—	capons	capez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

caper m

1. indefinite plural of cape

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cappero.

Noun

caper m (plural caperi)

1. caper (a plant)

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	caper	caperul	caperi	caperii
genitive-dative	caper	caperului	caperi	caperilor
vocative	caperule		caperilor

Swedish

Noun

caper

1. indefinite plural of cape