lowercase

Etymology

It is formed from English lower + case,^[2][3][4] after the compositor's practice of keeping the small letters in the lower of a pair of type cases;^[5][6] the case with the capitals stood higher on the sloping frame and farther from the compositor, and was called the upper case.^[6][2] The OED derives the verb from the noun, Etymonline from the adjective.^[2][3] Case in the sense "box" is from Anglo-Norman casse, Old French chasse, from Latin capsa (“box, repository”), from capiō (“to take, hold”).^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1683 Joseph Moxon's Mechanick Exercises, a manual of printing, used lower case both for the compositor's type case holding the small letters and for the small letters themselves.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The term began as printers' jargon: a lower-case letter was one taken from the lower case of type.^[2][5] In later use it came to mean small letters in general, as opposed to capitals.^[2] The verb, to set or write in small letters, followed in the 1890s,^[2][4] and in the 20th century American English used the adjective figuratively for something small or unimportant.^[2]

Timeline

• 1683 – the lower type case, the small letters kept in it, and of a letter, small rather than capital, in Joseph Moxon's Mechanick Exercises.^[2][4][3]
• 1895 – verb, to write or print in lower case.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dates the verb to 1908 and Etymonline to 1911.^[5][3]
• 1917 – figurative, chiefly American: small, insignificant.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a letter: small rather than capital, like a, g and r as against A, G and R.^[4][8][2]
2. Written, printed or typeset in such letters.^[4][2]
3. (chiefly US) Small or unimportant.^[2]

Noun

1. Small letters as a group: The title is set in lowercase.^[4][2]
2. (printing) The lower of a compositor's two type cases, holding the small letters.^[2][4]

Verb

1. To write or print in lowercase letters, or to change a capital into a small letter.^[4][8][2]

Related words

• uppercase
• case
• lower

Usage notes

The OED writes the noun as two words, lower case, and the adjective usually with a hyphen or as one word,^[2] and Etymonline enters it as lower-case;^[3] the American dictionaries print lowercase.^[4][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin