- capital letter
- capital letter late 14c.; see CAPITAL (Cf. capital). So called because it is at the "head" of a sentence or word.
Etymology dictionary. 2014.
capital letter
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Capital letter — Capital Cap i*tal, a. [F. capital, L. capitalis capital (in senses 1 & 2), fr. caput head. See {Chief}, and cf. {Capital}, n.] 1. Of or pertaining to the head. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise Expect with mortal … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
capital letter — n. the form of an alphabetical letter used to begin a sentence or proper name [A, B, C, etc. are capital letters] … English World dictionary
capital letter — see CAPITAL1 2 … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
capital letter — noun one of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis printers once kept the type for capitals and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were kept in the upper… … Useful english dictionary
capital letter — Capital, large letter … New dictionary of synonyms
capital letter — capital letters N COUNT Capital letters are the same as capitals … English dictionary
Capital letter — NOTOC Capital letters or majuscules [IPA pronunciation: /məˈdʒʌskyuls, ˈmædʒəˌskyuls/] , in the Roman alphabet A , B , C , D , etc., may also be called capitals, or caps. Upper case, upper case, or uppercase is also often used in this context as… … Wikipedia
capital letter — noun Letters A, B, C, ... (as opposed to a, b, c, ...) Syn: big letter, capital, upper case letter, uppercase letter Ant: lower case letter, lowercase letter, small letter … Wiktionary
capital letter — a letter of the alphabet that usually differs from its corresponding lowercase letter in form and height, as A, B, Q, and R as distinguished from a, b, q, and r: used as the initial letter of a proper name, the first word of a sentence, etc. Also … Universalium
capital letter — In typography, uppercase letters (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, etc.) In c. 114 CE, an inscription was chiseled into the base of a column in Trajan s Forum, Rome. That inscription had most of the capital letters known today. Until the sixth century … Glossary of Art Terms
