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capital

Etymology and origin of the English word capital

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English has two words spelled capital, both from Latin caput “head”: the adjective and noun meaning “chief; wealth; chief city”, from capitālis, and the top of a column, from capitellum.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkæp.ɪ.təl/, US /ˈkæp.ə.t̬əl/[4]

capital1 chief; wealth; chief city

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1200, Ancrene Riwle
Borrowed from
Old French capital via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (caput)

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English capital,[2][1] borrowed from Old French capital,[5][1] from Latin capitālis (“of the head; chief, first”),[5][2] from caput (“head”) (genitive capitis),[5][1] from Proto-Indo-European *kaput- (“head”).[5][2] The financial noun is from Medieval Latin capitāle (“stock, property, assets”), the noun use of the neuter of capitālis;[5][1] Latin caput itself could mean “principal, money laid out”.[1][2] In Medieval Latin the adjective described the pars capitalis, the principal sum of a loan, as opposed to the interest.[5] It is a doublet of cattle and chattel.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Of or relating to the head”: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[1] or the early 13th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Several senses grew from “of the head”.[1] “Involving loss of the head or life, deadly” is from 1395, in Wycliffe,[1] and a capital crime, punishable by death, from the 1520s;[5] Old English had a similar link between head and life in heafodgilt “capital offence”.[5] Capital letters, so called because they stand at the head of a sentence, are from before 1387,[1][5] and the noun, a capital letter, from before 1430.[1] “Chief, principal” is from the early 15th century.[5][1] The financial noun meant a person's wealth in the 1610s (1611, in Cotgrave's Dictionary),[5][1] the wealth used in a business from the 1640s, and in political economy the part of production available for further production from 1793.[5] The chief city of a country is from the 1660s, 1667 in Milton's Paradise Lost.[5][1] “Excellent, first-rate” is by 1754, perhaps from capital ships, those strong enough to stand in the line of battle, from the 1650s.[5][6] Capitalist is from 1791 and capitalism from 1854, in Thackeray.[1]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – of the head.[1]
  • before 1387 – capital letters.[1]
  • 1395 – deadly, mortal.[1]
  • early 15th century – chief, principal.[5]
  • 1520s – a capital crime.[5]
  • 1611 – a fund of money.[1]
  • 1667 – the chief city.[1]
  • 1754 – excellent.[5]
  • 1791 – capitalist.[1]
  • 1854 – capitalism.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The city that is the seat of government of a country or state.
  2. A city that is the centre of an activity: the fashion capital.
  3. Wealth in money or property used to produce more wealth, or invested in a business.
  4. An upper-case letter.

Adjective

  1. Chief; most important.
  2. Punishable by death: a capital crime.
  3. Of a letter, upper-case.
  4. (dated, British) Excellent.
  5. Relating to financial assets.

Word family

  • capitalism
  • capitalist
  • capitalize
  • capitally
  • capital punishment

capital2 top of a column

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1290
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman capitel via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (caput)

Etymology

The top of a column is inherited from Middle English capitale,[7] borrowed from Anglo-Norman capitel, Old French chapitel (modern French chapiteau),[1][3][2] from Late Latin capitellum (“small head, top of a column”),[1][8] a diminutive of Latin caput (“head”).[1][3] Its form was changed by folk etymology under the influence of the other capital.[7] It is a doublet of cadet.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The head or top of a column or pillar: before 1300,[1] or about 1290.[9]

Semantic evolution

The head or cap of a chimney or crucible is from 1715.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – the top of a column.[9]
  • 1715 – the cap of a chimney.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (architecture) The top part of a column or pillar.

Usage notes

A city that is the seat of government is spelled capital, while the building in which a legislature meets is a capitol.[10]

References

  1. ^ 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 27 28 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Capital.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/capital. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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