نعد الطابات بالألوان والأحجام باللهجة اللبنانية

What does “طابة” (taba) mean in Lebanese Arabic?

If you learned Arabic from a textbook, the word for ball is كرة (kura). In Lebanon and Syria, nobody says كرة — it’s طابة (taba). The word came into Levantine Arabic from Ottoman Turkish “top” (ball), and it stuck so firmly that كرة simply sounds foreign to most Lebanese and Syrian ears. Plural: طباط (tbat) or طابات (tabat).

The clip counts balls from one to nineteen, naming colours (زرقا blue, حمرا red, خضراء green), patterns (منقطة dotted, مخططة striped), and sizes (كبيرة large, صغيرة small) — طابة appears in nearly every sentence, making it one of the most repeated words an A1 learner could meet in a single clip. The Ottoman Turkish origin ties طابة to a wider Levantine borrowing pattern: “top” also entered Iraqi Arabic as طوبة (toba). Once you lock in طابة, you’ll catch it in Lebanese and Syrian content about any sport, toy, or playground — while كرة will sound distinctly Egyptian or formal by comparison.