Word definition: capital

Etimology


From Middle English capital, borrowed partly from Old French capital and partly from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (in sense “head of cattle”), from caput (“head”) (English cap) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle. The noun is from the adjective.Compare chattel and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”. Doublet of cattle and chattel.

noun


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.

(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.

(countable) The most important city in the field specified.

(countable) An uppercase letter.

(uncountable) Knowledge; awareness; proficiency.

(countable, by extension) The chief or most important thing.

Examples


He does not have enough capital to start a business.

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.

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.

Hollywood is the film capital, New York the theater capital, Las Vegas the gambling capital.

Interpreters need a good amount of cultural capital in order to function efficiently in the profession.

Related words


synonyms

(An uppercase letter): caps (in the plural), majuscule

antonyms

(An uppercase letter): minuscule

adjective


capital (not comparable)

Of prime importance.

Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation.

(comparable, UK, dated) Excellent.

(crime) Punishable by, or involving punishment by, death.

Uppercase.

Of or relating to the head.

Examples


a capital article in religion

whatever is capital and essential in Christianity

London and Paris are capital cities.

That is a capital idea!

“He is a capital fellow,” the Englishman in London had said, “and he has got an awfully pretty wife. […] ”

Sometimes he laughed heartily as if he heard some capital joke; by degrees this lessened, and he spoke rapidly, but in very low tones.

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.

to put to death a capital offender

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.

Antonym: lower-case

One begins a sentence with a capital letter.

You're a genius with a capital G!

He's dead with a capital D!

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.

Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise / Expect with mortal pain.

Etimology


From Middle English capitale, partly from Old French capital and partly from Late Latin capitellum (“capital or chapiter of a column”), a form of Latin capitulum (“head-like object or structure; chapter”) (whence English capitulum, chapter, and the synonym chapiter (“uppermost part of a column”)), from caput (“head”) + -ulum (diminutive suffix). Doublet of caddie, cadel, cadet, capitellum, caudillo, and Kadet.

noun


capital (plural capitals)

(countable, architecture) The uppermost part of a column.

Examples


Synonym: chapiter

Data provided by Wiktionary