Appendix:Capital letter

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Translingual

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A sign outside a museum, written with capital letters.

Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. Single capital letter (either by itself, or as a combination of capital letters that can be used by themselves):
    1. In lists, followed by a period, right parenthesis, dash, etc.
      A. Go to the store. B. Get some food. C. Return home. D. Eat.
      A) Go to the store. B) Get some food. C) Return home. D) Eat.
      A – Go to the store. B – Get some food. C – Return home. D – Eat.
    2. In numeral systems with a base greater than ten, alphabetic letters are used as additional digits.
      Hexadecimal: A = 10, B = 11, AA = 170, etc.
    3. Some symbols are composed of a single capital letter.
      1. Symbols of some units of measurement.
        C = coulomb, B = byte
      2. The prefix symbols for multiples of SI units 106 (mega) and above.
        M = mega, G = giga, P = peta, etc.
    4. (biology) In blood types (A, B, AB, O).
    5. Often used in Roman numerals; other times they are written in lowercase letters.
      I = 1, II = 2, ..., V = 5
    6. (card games) Used in abbreviations of names of playing cards.
      A = ace, K = king, Q = queen, J = jack, T = ten
    7. (chess) Used in abbreviations of names of chess pieces.
      K = king, Q = queen, etc.
      K = König, D = Dame, etc.K = king, Q = queen, etc.
  2. First-letter capitalization:
    1. In proper nouns, including:
      1. In names, surnames and nicknames.
      2. In names of places: countries, cities, etc.
      3. In names of landforms and parts of the ecosystem: mountains (Mount Fuji), forests (Amazon Forest), etc.
      4. In names of planets, stars, constellations, etc.
      5. In names of brands, companies and products.
      6. In names of organizations, musical bands and political parties.
      7. In titles of texts, books, movies, musics, etc.
      8. In titles of software, including video games.
    2. In the names of some trademarked products and some genericized trademarks.
      a Kleenex, a Mercedes, a Nintendo
    3. In addition to proper nouns, in some languages also in common nouns.
      German Bier, Luxembourgish Béier, Low German Beer, Bier, Beier, Saterland Frisian Bjoor (beer)
    4. At the beginning of a sentence.
      The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
    5. At the beginning of quoted speech.
      We all said “No, don’t do that.”
    6. In names, pronouns and (sometimes) adjectives that refer to God.
      I love the Lord for He is Great and Holy.
    7. (archaic) In words that are deemed to be important, especially in religious contexts or for abstract concepts.
      The greatest Vice is Pride, for it is thence that all Sin springs forth.
      The Parsonage was situated in the countryside, half a league from the Town.
    8. In taxonomic names.
    9. In some symbols, abbreviations and acronyms.
      1. Acronyms include: Nato, Wysiwyg.
      2. (biology) Symbols and abbreviations of nucleobases consist of one or more letters from the Latin alphabet with the first letter capitalised.
        A = adenine, G = guanine; or Ade = adenine, Gua = guanine
      3. (chemistry) Symbols of chemical elements normally consist of one or two letters from the Latin alphabet with the first letter capitalised.
        O = oxygen, H = hydrogen; He = helium, Na = sodium, etc.
    10. (law) To denote that a term is a defined term.
      In this contract, Service Media means all such pipes, cables and other media laid by the Company for the purpose of []
  3. All-caps:
    1. As a style choice.
      POLICE” was written outside the police station.
    2. Sometimes used in headings, titles, and the first few letters or words of a block of text to set them off from the text body.
    3. Used in many abbreviations and initialisms. (USA, etc.)
    4. Indicates that a person is shouting.
      I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!!!
    5. Used for emphasis.
      I need that report RIGHT NOW!
    6. Used in video subtitles, usually between square brackets or parentheses, to indicate comments or to provide explanations of sounds for deaf people.
      I have a question: would it be an exception if [INAUDIBLE]?
      [CAR WHIRRING] The car won't start!
    7. Used in Bibles to indicate translations of the Tetragrammaton
      Und der HERR sprach zu Mose
      And the LORD said unto Moses
    8. Used to indicate which part of the name is the family name, particularly in international organizations.
      Donald TRUMP met XI Jinping
  4. Camel case:
    1. In some brand names:
      iPhone; BlackBerry; PowerPoint presentation
    2. (programming) Optionally to indicate word breaks in the variables in some programming languages, often starting with a lowercase letter.
      Use the variables “startDate” and “endDate”.
    3. (chemistry) In chemical formulae, the elements put together often form a camel case result, such as NaCl.
      NaCl = sodium chloride
    4. In some abbreviations for units of measurement, formed with lowercase prefix + uppercase unit:
      kA = kiloampere
    5. In pH and pOH.
  5. Alternating caps:
    1. Indicates a mocking tone.

See also

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Here are the capital letters in the Latin script:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry-like pages
Typography Capital letter · Lowercase letter · Superscript · Subscript · Italics · Boldface · Small caps · Underline · Strikethrough
Semantics Possessive
Suprasegmentals Repetition
(See also: Wiktionary:Index to appendices)

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. First-letter capitalization:
    1. Used in the word "I" and contractions: I'll, I'm, etc.
    2. Used in a number of honorifics: Mr., Dr., Mrs., etc.
    3. Used in adjectives derived from proper nouns: Canadian, Dickensian, etc.
    4. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to large established groupings of people:
      1. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens:
      2. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to states, regions, and cities and their inhabitants:
      3. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to languages and their speakers:
      4. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to political parties and their members (especially when distinguished from people who hold similarly named views but aren’t affiliated with a party):
        (compare small-l liberal)
      5. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to other organizations and their members:
      6. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to religions and their adherents:
    5. Used in days of the week and months.
    6. Used in words derived from nouns and adjectives that start with a capital letter.
    7. Used in the first word and all other words except articles and most conjunctions in titles:
      The Lord of the Rings; A View to a Kill; Pride and Prejudice
    8. Used in ornithology in the names of birds – outside ornithology, these are usually lower case except for when the species name includes a word always written with a capital letter:
    9. (informal) Used to emphasize a word as being more meaningful or specific than its typical generic usage.
      • 2017, Emmy J. Favilla, A World Without "Whom": The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age, London []: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 120:
        Her body, skin, face, and hair all look effortless and natural—the Cool Girl doesn’t even know what an elliptical machine would look like—and wears a uniform of jeans and tank tops, because trying hard isn’t Cool. [] The capitalization of the term serves to pseudo-brand Cool Girl as something precise outside of the generic, a thing for which no other term currently exists.
    10. (archaic) Used in all or some nouns. [c. 1650–1750]
  2. All-caps:
    1. Used to indicate a stressed syllable in certain pronunciation respelling systems.
      penicillin [pen-i-SILL-in]

Derived terms

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Dutch

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. first-letter capitalization:
    1. (obsolete) used in days of the week and months
    2. used in some adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens
      Nederlander, Nederlands, Europeaan, Eskimo, maar indiaanDutch, Dutch, European, Eskimo, but American Indian
    3. used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to cities and their inhabitants
      Amsterdammer, AmsterdamsAmsterdamer, (of, from or relating to Amsterdam)

French

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. First-letter capitalization:
    1. In titles, "important words":
      1. The first word is always capitalized.
        À la recherche du temps perdu
        In Search of Lost Time
      2. Nouns which stand alone without articles or determiners.
        Orgueil et Préjugés
        Pride and Prejudice
      3. The first noun, when this is at the very beginning of the title and is preceded by a definite article.
        Le Seigneur des anneaux; L’Internationale
        The Lord of the Rings; The International
      4. Other nouns with definite articles linked to the initial noun by et
        Le Lion, la Sorcière blanche et l’Armoire magique; La Belle et la Bête
        The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Beauty and the Beast
      5. Prenominal adjectives attached to capitalized nouns.
        Le Petit Prince; Les Deux Tours
        The Little Prince; The Two Towers
      6. Proper nouns and other nouns that are always capitalized in French.
        Voyage au centre de la Terre
        Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Usage Notes

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  • According to the Académie Française, in standard usage, accents are not optional on capital letters (e.g. état vs. État; André vs. ANDRÉ)[1]; however, they are often omitted, a practice carried over from the typewriter era. Cedillas are generally retained (e.g. FAÇADE rather than FACADE).

References

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German

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. First-letter capitalization:
    1. In addition to proper nouns, common nouns, too, have the first letter capitalized.
    2. In fixed expressions adjectives have the first letter capitalized.
      Blauer Planet, Schwarzes Brett, Weißes Haus
      Blue Planet (Earth), bulletin board, White House
    3. Nominalized adjectives are usually capitalized.
      (et)was Gutes, die Schöne
      something good, the beautiful
    4. The pronouns Du (Deiner, Dir, Dich) and Dein can have the first letter capitalized when addressing someone in writing; this practice was deprecated in the 1996 spelling reform, but later partly undone, namely in case of letters.
    5. Capitalization distinguishes the polite second person form Sie, Ihnen, Ihr etc. from the third person plural sie, ihnen, ihr.
    6. Pronouns used in a majestic plural ("royal we": Wir) have the first letter capitalized.
    7. In modern spellings as prescribed by Duden, third person singular pronouns are capitalized in direct addresses and imperatives.
    8. (archaic) adjectives denoting a country or people once sometimes had the first letter capitalized.
  2. First- and second-letter capitalization:
    1. (archaic) In names and nouns referring to God.
      JEsus, GOtt
      Jesus, God

Derived terms

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Japanese

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. Sometimes used when transcribing katakana.
    チーズを食べる
    CHĪZU o taberu (eat cheese)
  2. Sometimes used when transcribing on'yomi readings of a kanji, as opposed to kun'yomi readings written in lowercase.
    (readings: JIN, NIN, hito)
  3. Sometimes used in romanizations of Japanese names to indicate which part is the family name.
    山田太郎
    YAMADA Taro


Latin

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. (Ancient Latin) Only capital letters are used.
  2. (New Latin) In addition to proper nouns, sometimes common nouns, too, have the first letter capitalized.

Lojban

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. Used to mark stress.

Luxembourgish

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. In addition to proper nouns, common nouns, too, have the first letter capitalized.

Spanish

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. first-letter capitalization:
    1. in titles, the first word is always capitalized

References

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Vietnamese

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Letter

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[capital letter]

  1. First-letter capitalization:
    1. Used in proper nouns used as adjectives: Việt Nam, châu Á, etc.
    2. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to large established groupings of people:
      1. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens:
      2. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to states, regions and cities and their inhabitants:
        người Quảng, người Bắc
        Cantonese, Northerner
      3. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to ethnic groups:
      4. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to languages and their speakers:
        tiếng Việt, tiếng Anh, Quốc tế ngữ
        Vietnamese, English, Esperanto
      5. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to political parties and their members (especially when distinguished from people who hold similar views but aren't affiliated with a party):
        Cộng sản, Cộng hòa, Dân chủ
        Communist, Republican, Democratic
      6. Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to religions and their adherents:
        Phật giáo, Công giáo, Tin Lành
        Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant
    3. Used in days of the week (Chủ nhật, thứ Hai) and months (tháng Mười).
    4. Used in the Can Chi (干支) (sexagenary cycle) days and years of the lunisolar calendar.
      Giáp Tý (甲子), Ất Sửu (乙丑), Bính Dần (丙寅)
      Yang Wood Rat, Yin Wood Ox, Yang Fire Tiger
    5. Used in words derived from nouns and adjectives that start with a capital letter.
      Việt hóa, Việt Cộng
      Vietnamization, Vietcong
    6. Used in the first word of a sentence or of quoted speech.
      Anh hỏi, "Tại sao em vẫn còn ở đây?"
      He asked, "Why are you still here?"
    7. Used in the first word and the first syllable of all other nouns in names of organizations:
      Trường Trung học phổ thông chuyên Khoa học Tự nhiên
      High School for Gifted Students of the Natural Sciences
    8. Used in the first word and the first syllable of all other words except classifiers and most conjunctions in titles:
      Từ điển Bách khoa Quân sự Việt Nam
      Vietnam Military Encyclopedia
    9. (dated) Used in the first word and all other words except classifiers and most conjunctions in titles.
    10. (obsolete) Used in all words in titles.
    11. (biology) Used in the names of taxonomic ranks above species:
      chi Hươu cao cổ
      Giraffa

References

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  • Quy định tạm thời về viết hoa tên riêng trong sách giáo khoa [Temporary rules for capitalizing proper names in textbooks][1] (in Vietnamese), Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, 2003 March 13