Appendix:Capital letter
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Translingual[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- Single capital letter (either by itself, or as a combination of capital letters that can be used by themselves):
- 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.
- In numbers with a base greater than ten, letters can be used as additional digits.
- Hexadecimal: A=10, B=11, AA=170, etc.
- Some abbreviations are composed of a single capital letter.
- (biology) In abbreviations of nucleobases.
- A=adenine, G=guanine
- (chemistry) In the abbreviations of elements, others are written with only the first letter capizalized (He, Ph, etc.)
- O=oxygen, H=hydrogen
- In the abbreviations of some units of measurement.
- C=coulomb, B=byte
- In the official abbreviations of SI prefixes M (mega) and above.
- M=mega, G=giga, P=peta, etc.
- (biology) In abbreviations of nucleobases.
- (biology) In blood types (A, B, AB, O).
- Often used in Roman numerals, other times they are written in lowercase letters.
- I = 1, II = 2, ..., V = 5
- (card games) Used in abbreviations of names of playing cards.
- A = ace, K = king, Q = queen, J = jack, T = ten
- (chess) Used in abbreviations of names of chess pieces.
- K = king, Q = queen, etc.
- K = König, D = Dame, etc. ― K = king, Q = queen, etc.
- In lists, followed by a period, right parenthesis, dash, etc.
- First-letter capitalization:
- In proper nouns, which include:
- In names, surnames and nicknames.
- In names of places: countries, cities, etc.
- In names of landforms and parts of the ecosystem: mountains (Mount Fuji), forests (Amazon Forest), etc.
- In names of planets, stars, constellations, etc.
- In names of brands, companies and products.
- In names of organizations, musical bands and political parties.
- In titles of texts, books, movies, musics, etc.
- In titles of software, including video games.
- In the names of some trademarked products and some genericized trademarks.
- a Kleenex, a Mercedes, a Nintendo
- In addition to proper nouns, also in common nouns.
- At the beginning of a sentence.
- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
- At the beginning of quoted speech.
- We all said "No, don't do that."
- In names, pronouns and (sometimes) adjectives that refer to God.
- I love the Lord for He is Great and Holy.
- (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.
- In taxonomic names. (Homo sapiens)
- In some abbreviations and acronyms.
- Acronyms include: Nato, Wysiwyg.
- (biology) In abbreviations of nucleobases.
- Ade=adenine, Gua=guanine
- (chemistry) In the abbreviations of elements.
- He=helium, Na=sodium, etc.
- In proper nouns, which include:
- All-caps:
- As a style choice.
- "POLICE" was written outside the police station.
- Used in many abbreviations and initialisms. (USA, etc.)
- Indicates that a person is shouting.
- I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!!!
- Used for emphasis.
- I need that report RIGHT NOW!
- 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!
- Used in Bibles to indicate translations of the Tetragrammaton
- And the LORD said unto Moses
- Und der HERR sprach zu Mose
- (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- As a style choice.
- CamelCase:
- In some brand names:
- iPhone; BlackBerry; PowerPoint presentation
- (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".
- (chemistry) In chemical formulae, the elements put together often form a CamelCase result, such as NaCl.
- NaCl=sodium chloride
- In some abbreviations for units of measurement, formed with lowercase prefix + uppercase unit:
- kA=kiloampere
- In pH and pOH.
- In some brand names:
- Alternating caps:
- Indicates a mocking tone.
See also[edit]
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 (edit) | |
---|---|
Typography | Capital letter · Superscript · Subscript Italics · Boldface · Underline · Strikethrough |
Semantics | Possessive |
Suprasegmentals | Repetition |
English[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- First-letter capitalization:
- Used in the word "I" and contractions: I'll, I'm, etc.
- Used in a number of honorifics: Mr., Dr., Mrs., etc.
- Used in adjectives derived from proper nouns: Canadian, Dickensian, etc.
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to large established groupings of people:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to states, regions and cities and their inhabitants:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to languages and their speakers:
- 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):
- (compare small-l liberal)
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to other organizations and their members:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to religions and their adherents:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens:
- Used in days of the week (Monday) and months (December).
- Used in words derived from nouns and adjectives that start with a capital letter.
- 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
- 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:
- (archaic) Used in all nouns.
- 1703, Isaac Newton, Opticks, Book I
- My Design in this Book is not to explain the Properties of Light by Hypotheses, but to propose and prove them by Reason and Experiments.
- 1703, Isaac Newton, Opticks, Book I
- All-caps:
- Used to indicate a stressed syllable in certain pronunciation respelling systems.
- penicillin [pen-i-SILL-in]
- Used to indicate a stressed syllable in certain pronunciation respelling systems.
Derived terms[edit]
Terms written in CamelCase - brand names and derived terms
Dutch[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- First-letter capitalization:
- (obsolete) Used in days of the week and months.
- Used in some adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens.
- Nederlander, Nederlands, Europeaan, Eskimo, maar indiaan ― Dutch, Dutch, European, Eskimo, but American Indian
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to cities and their inhabitants.
- Amsterdammer, Amsterdams ― Amsterdamer, (of, from or relating to Amsterdam)
French[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- First-letter capitalization:
- In titles, "important words":
- The first word is always capitalized.
- À la recherche du temps perdu
- In Search of Lost Time
- Nouns which stand alone without articles or determiners.
- Orgueil et Préjugés
- Pride and Prejudice
- 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
- 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
- Prenominal adjectives attached to capitalized nouns.
- Le Petit Prince; Les Deux Tours
- The Little Prince; The Two Towers
- Proper nouns and other nouns that are always capitalized in French.
- Voyage au centre de la Terre
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth
- The first word is always capitalized.
- In titles, "important words":
Usage Notes[edit]
- 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[edit]
German[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- First-letter capitalization:
- In addition to proper nouns, common nouns, too, have the first letter capitalized.
- In fixed expressions adjectives have the first letter capitalized.
- Blauer Planet, Schwarzes Brett, Weißes Haus
- Blue Planet (Earth), bulletin board, White House
- Nominalized adjectives are usually capitalized.
- (et)was Gutes, die Schöne
- something good, the beautiful
- 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.
- Capitalization distinguishes the polite second person form Sie, Ihnen, Ihr etc. from the third person plural sie, ihnen, ihr.
- Pronouns used in a majestic plural ("royal we": Wir) have the first letter capitalized.
- In modern spellings as prescribed by Duden, third person singular pronouns are capitalized in direct addresses and imperatives.
- (archaic) adjectives denoting a country or people once sometimes had the first letter capitalized.
- First- and second-letter capitalization:
- (archaic) In names and nouns referring to God.
- (archaic) In names and nouns referring to God.
Derived terms[edit]
Japanese[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- Sometimes used when transcribing katakana.
- チーズを食べる
- CHĪZU o taberu (eat cheese)
- Sometimes used when transcribing on'yomi readings of a kanji, as opposed to kun'yomi readings written in lowercase.
- 人
- (readings: JIN, NIN, hito)
- Sometimes used in romanizations of Japanese names to indicate which part is the family name.
- 山田太郎
- YAMADA Taro
Latin[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- (Ancient Latin) Only capital letters are used.
- (New Latin) In addition to proper nouns, sometimes common nouns, too, have the first letter capitalized.
Lojban[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- Used to mark stress.
Luxembourgish[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- In addition to proper nouns, common nouns, too, have the first letter capitalized.
Spanish[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- first-letter capitalization:
- in titles, the first word is always capitalized
References[edit]
- Ortografía de la lengua español, chapter IV ("El use de las letras mayúsculas y minúsculas") from the Real Academia Española with the Association of Spanish Language Academies, first edition, 2010, →ISBN, pages 442–519
Vietnamese[edit]
Letter[edit]
[capital letter]
- First-letter capitalization:
- Used in proper nouns used as adjectives: Việt Nam, châu Á, etc.
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to large established groupings of people:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to states, regions and cities and their inhabitants:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to ethnic groups:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to languages and their speakers:
- 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):
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to religions and their adherents:
- Used in adjectives and nouns pertaining to nations and countries and their citizens:
- Used in days of the week (Chủ nhật, thứ Hai) and months (tháng Mười).
- Used in the Can Chi (干支) (sexagenary cycle) days and years of the lunisolar calendar.
- Used in words derived from nouns and adjectives that start with a capital letter.
- 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?"
- 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
- 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
- (dated) Used in the first word and all other words except classifiers and most conjunctions in titles.
- (obsolete) Used in all words in titles.
- (biology) Used in the names of taxonomic ranks above species:
- chi Hươu cao cổ
References[edit]
- 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, 2003-03-13
Categories:
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- mul:Chess
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- vi:Biology