tabac

Catalan

Etymology

From Andalusian Arabic طباق (ṭabbāq), from Arabic طُبَّاق (ṭubbāq), a name applied to various smelly, sticky plants including stinkweed, yellow fleabane, and ploughman's-spikenard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [təˈβak]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [təˈbak]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [taˈbak]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

tabac m (plural tabacs)

1. tobacco

Related terms

• tabacada
• tabacaire
• tabacar
• tabaquejar
• tabaquer
• tabaquera
• tabaqueria
• tabaquisme

Further reading

• “tabac”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “tabac” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Plant de tabac rustique (1).

Tabac à rouler (2).

Un café bar tabac (4).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.ba/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish tabaco.

Noun

tabac m (plural tabacs)

1. (uncountable, botany) tobacco (any plant of the genus Nicotiana)

   des plantations de tabac ― tobacco plantations

2. tobacco (leaves of certain varieties of the plant cultivated and harvested)

   du tabac blond ― blond tobacco

   Pour la pipe, quels sont tes tabacs préférés ?

   What are your favorite pipe tobaccos?

3. (uncountable, with le) smoking, nicotine addiction

   J’ai pris une résolution : demain, j’arrête le tabac.

   I have made a decision: tomorrow I'm quitting smoking.

4. tobacconist (shop where tobacco is sold)

   Synonyms: bureau de tabac, débit de tabac

   Il s’engouffra dans un tabac et en sortit avec un briquet.

   He rushed into a tobacconist's and came out with a lighter.

5. (by extension, regional) corner shop

   Synonym: épicerie

   Le supermarché est fermé à cette heure-ci, il faudra acheter des bières dans un tabac.

   The supermarket is closed at this time; you will have to buy beer in a corner shop.

6. (figurative) thing, stuff

   (c’est toujours) le même tabac – c’est du même tabac.

   (it's always) the same thing – it's the same old stuff.

Derived terms

• antitabac
• bar-tabac
• bureau de tabac
• débit de tabac
• petit tabac
• tabac ailé
• tabac blanc
• tabac commun
• tabac de jardin
• tabac géant
• tabac glauque
• tabac marron
• tabac rustique
• tabac sylvestre
• tabac-presse
• tabacole
• tabacologie
• tabacologue
• tabacomanie
• tabaculteur
• tabaculture
• tabagie
• tabagique
• tabagisme
• tabagiste
• tabatier
• tabatière

Descendants

• → Dutch: tabak
• → German: Tabak
• → Irish: tobac
• → Romanian: tabac
• → Russian: таба́к (tabák)
• → Yiddish: טאַבאַק (tabak)

Adjective

tabac (invariable)

1. having the color of tobacco
   • 1836, Honoré de Balzac, Œuvres diverses, volume 1:

     Voyez quel air martial respire ce vénérable membre de la Garde nationale! Avec son habit tabac, son sabre et sa giberne en bandoulière, son fusil sur l’épaule […] il va affronter les ennemis […] de la tranquillité publique.

     See what martial air this venerable member of the National Guard breathes! With his tobacco-coloured coat, his sword and his pouch on a bandolier, his gun on his shoulder […] he will face the enemies […] of public peace.

Further reading

• tabac on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr

Etymology 2

Deverbal from tabasser. The expected spelling is *tabas (compare tracas from tracasser, fracas from fracasser); the -ac spelling is due to the influence of the above noun tabac (“tobacco”).

Noun

tabac m (plural tabacs)

1. violent fight

   Il va y avoir du tabac ce soir !

   There's going to be a fight tonight!

Derived terms

• coup de tabac
• faire un tabac
• passage à tabac, passer à tabac
• tabassage
• tabassée
• tabasser

Further reading

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

Friulian

Noun

tabac m (plural tabacs)

1. tobacco

Irish

Noun

tabac m

1. Alternative form of tobac (“tobacco”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of tabac

radical	lenition	eclipsis
tabac	thabac	dtabac

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Romanian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French tabac, from Spanish tabaco, either from Arabic or from Taíno. See English tobacco for more.

Noun

tabac n (uncountable)

1. tobacco

   Synonym: tutun

Declension

Declension of tabac

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	tabac	tabacul
genitive-dative	tabac	tabacului
vocative	tabacule

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish طبق (tabak).

Noun

tabac m (plural tabaci)

1. tanner (one who tans hides)

Declension

Declension of tabac

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	tabac	tabacul		tabaci	tabacii
genitive-dative	tabac	tabacului		tabaci	tabacilor
vocative	tabacule			tabacilor

Derived terms

• tăbăci