Capital Letter

Capital Letter

 

(uppercase letter), a letter differing from a small (lowercase) letter in height and sometimes form, for example, A, Ƃ, and Γ in the Russian alphabet and G, Q, and R in the Latin alphabet.

Capital letters are used to begin the first word of a sentence and are also used in proper nouns and titles. In German all substantives begin with capitals, and in English capitals are used to begin every categorematic in titles. Capital letters are included in alphabets based on the Russian and Latin alphabets and are also used in the Greek, Georgian, and Armenian alphabets. Beginning in the 15th century, capital letters were used in Latin-alphabet works in titles, in text (after periods in order to indicate divisions), and in proper nouns; Russian-alphabet works began doing this in the 16th century. In all Slavic and Russian manuscript books, the capital letters used to begin various sections of a text were always distinguished by their ornamentation.