capital
English[edit]




Alternative forms[edit]
- capitall (obsolete)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English capital, borrowed from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (in sense “head of cattle”), from caput (“head”) (English cap). Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle.
Compare chattel and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”.
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
capital (countable and uncountable, plural capitals)
- (uncountable, economics) Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as steam shovels (equipment) and office buildings (structures).
- (uncountable, business, finance, insurance) Money and wealth. The means to acquire goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.
- He does not have enough capital to start a business.
- (countable) A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.
- 1995, Fang, Linda, The Chʻi-lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories[1], New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, →ISBN, LCCN 94-9909, OCLC 214972990, OL 1086004M, page 54:
- Lin Hsiang-ju immediately said to the king of Ch’in, “If Ta-wang wants fifteen cities from Chao, the king of Chao should also get something in return. What about giving him Hsien-yang as a gift?’ Hsien-yang was the capital of Ch’in.
- 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
- From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. […] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.
- Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States of America.
- The Welsh government claims that Cardiff is Europe’s youngest capital.
- (countable) The most important city in the field specified.
- 2010 September, Charlie Brennan, "Active Athletes", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 83:
- Hollywood is the film capital, New York the theater capital, Las Vegas the gambling capital.
- 2010 September, Charlie Brennan, "Active Athletes", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 83:
- (countable) An uppercase letter.
- (countable, architecture) The uppermost part of a column.
- (uncountable) Knowledge; awareness; proficiency.
- Interpreters need a good amount of cultural capital in order to function efficiently in the profession.
- (countable, by extension) The chief or most important thing.
Usage notes[edit]
The homophone capitol refers only to a building, usually one that houses the legislative branch of a government, and often one located in a capital city.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
- (An uppercase letter): minuscule
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Adjective[edit]
capital (not comparable)
- Of prime importance.
- 1708, Francis Atterbury, Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions : Preface
- a capital article in religion
- 1852, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening:
- whatever is capital and essential in Christianity
- 1708, Francis Atterbury, Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions : Preface
- Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation.
- London and Paris are capital cities.
- (comparable, Britain, dated) Excellent.
- That is a capital idea!
- (crime) Punishable by, or involving punishment by, death.
- 1709, [Jonathan Swift], A Project for the Advancement of Religion, and the Reformation of Manners. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, […], OCLC 220146796, pages 53–54:
- Neither could the Legiſlature in any thing more conſult the Publick Good, than by providing ſome effectual Remedy againſt this Evil, which in ſeveral Caſes deſerves greater Puniſhment than many Crimes that are capital among us.
- 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [EIKONOKLASTES] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], OCLC 1044608640:
- to put to death a capital offender
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 517:
- Some 1,600 priests were deported, for example, while the total number of capital victims of the military commissions down to 1799 was only around 150.
- Uppercase.
- Antonym: lower-case
- One begins a sentence with a capital letter.
- used to emphasise greatness or absoluteness
- You're a genius with a capital G!
- He's dead with a capital D!
- 2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC[2]:
- In recent years, much has been made of the lack of new heavyweight male star power in mainstream Hollywood. Talented performers may be everywhere, but Movie Stars, capital M, capital S, are something else.
- Of or relating to the head.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 10”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise / Expect with mortal pain.
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “capital”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- capital at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams[edit]
Asturian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin capitālis.
Adjective[edit]
capital (epicene, plural capitales)
Noun[edit]
capital f (plural capitales)
- capital city (city designated as seat of government)
capital m (plural capitales)
- capital (money)
Catalan[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin capitālis.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
capital (feminine capitala, masculine plural capitals, feminine plural capitales)
Derived terms[edit]
Noun[edit]
capital f (plural capitals)
- capital (city)
Noun[edit]
capital m (plural capitals)
- capital (finance)
Derived terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “capital” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin capitālis. Doublet of cheptel.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
capital m (plural capitaux)
- capital (money and wealth)
Adjective[edit]
capital (feminine capitale, masculine plural capitaux, feminine plural capitales)
- capital (important)
- La peine capitale est abolie en France depuis les années 1980.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “capital”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams[edit]
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Substantive form of capitālis (“mortal, relating to the head”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈka.pi.tal/, [ˈkäpɪt̪äɫ̪]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈka.pi.tal/, [ˈkäːpit̪äl]
Noun[edit]
capital n (genitive capitālis); third declension
- a capital offence; a crime punishable by death, civil death, or exile
- capital facere ― to commit a capital offence
Declension[edit]
Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | capital | capitālia |
Genitive | capitālis | capitālium |
Dative | capitālī | capitālibus |
Accusative | capital | capitālia |
Ablative | capitālī | capitālibus |
Vocative | capital | capitālia |
References[edit]
- “capital”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- “capital”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Portuguese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin capitālis. Doublet of cabedal and caudal.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
capital f (plural capitais)
- (geopolitics) capital; capital city (place where the seat of a government is located)
- (figuratively) capital (the most important place associated with something)
Noun[edit]
capital m (plural capitais)
- (finances) capital (money that can be used to acquire goods and services)
- (figuratively) anything of prime importance
Derived terms[edit]
Adjective[edit]
capital m or f (plural capitais, comparable)
- capital (of prime importance)
- (law) capital (involving punishment by death)
- (rare, anatomy) capital (relating to the head)
Related terms[edit]
Romanian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from French capital, Latin capitālis.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
capital n (plural capitaluri)
Declension[edit]
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) capital | capitalul | (niște) capitaluri | capitalurile |
genitive/dative | (unui) capital | capitalului | (unor) capitaluri | capitalurilor |
vocative | capitalule | capitalurilor |
Adjective[edit]
capital m or n (feminine singular capitală, masculine plural capitali, feminine and neuter plural capitale)
Declension[edit]
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | capital | capitală | capitali | capitale | ||
definite | capitalul | capitala | capitalii | capitalele | |||
genitive/ dative |
indefinite | capital | capitale | capitali | capitale | ||
definite | capitalului | capitalei | capitalilor | capitalelor |
Romansch[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin capitālis, from caput (“head”).
Noun[edit]
capital m (plural capitals)
Related terms[edit]
Spanish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Latin capitālis. Doublet of caudal.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
capital (plural capitales)
- capital (important)
- Es asunto de capital importancia.
- This is a very important matter.
- Lo condenaron a la pena capital.
- He was sentenced to the death penalty.
Derived terms[edit]
Noun[edit]
capital m (plural capitales)
- capital (finance)
Derived terms[edit]
Noun[edit]
capital f (plural capitales)
- capital (city)
Further reading[edit]
- “capital”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- English terms inherited from Middle English
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