caporal

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Italian caporalebor.

French caporalbor.

English caporal

Borrowed 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

Borrowed from Spanish caporal.

Noun

caporal (plural caporals)

1. (Latin America) A foreman or overseer.

Anagrams

• crapola

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [kə.puˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kə.poˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [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, 2026
• “caporal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “caporal”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

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

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French caporal, from Italian caporale, from capo (“chief”).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.poˈɾaw/ [ka.poˈɾaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐ.puˈɾal/ [kɐ.puˈɾaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐ.puˈɾal/ [kɐ.puˈɾaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐ.puˈɾa.li/

• Hyphenation: ca‧po‧ral

Noun

caporal m (plural caporais)

1. (Portugal, military) former military rank, between corporal and sergeant

Adjective

caporal m or f (plural caporais)

1. designating a quality of chopped tobacco

Further reading

• “caporal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “caporal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French caporal.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

caporal m (plural caporali)

1. corporal

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	caporal	caporalul	caporali	caporalii
genitive-dative	caporal	caporalului	caporali	caporalilor
vocative	caporalule		caporalilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian caporale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kapoˈɾal/ [ka.poˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ca‧po‧ral

Noun

caporal m (plural caporales)

1. corporal
2. foreman

Further reading

• “caporal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025