What is uppercase letters

Upper-case letters Definition & Meaning

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Capital letters. (Compare lower-case letters.)

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Words nearby upper-case letters

upper bound, Upper Canada, Upper Canadian, Upper Carboniferous, uppercase, upper-case letters, upper chamber, Upper Chinook, upper class, upperclassman, upper crust

MORE ABOUT UPPER CASE LETTERS

What are

uppercase letters?

Uppercase letters are capital letters—the bigger, taller versions of letters (like W), as opposed to the smaller versions, which are called lowercase letters (like w).

Uppercase means the same thing as capital. Uppercase letters can also be called capitals.

Some uppercase letters are just larger, taller versions of their lowercase counterparts (like uppercase W and lowercase w or uppercase C and lowercase c), but in many cases the two versions of the letter take different forms altogether, such as uppercase A and lowercase a or uppercase B and lowercase b.

To capitalize a word is to make its first letter an uppercase letter. For example, to capitalize the word polish (which is here spelled with a lowercase p), you would write it with an uppercase P, as Polish.

The state of being capitalized or uppercase (or the process of making a letter an uppercase letter) is called capitalization, as in Please check your paper for proper punctuation and capitalization.

In English, uppercase letters are used at the beginning of words for a few different reasons. It is considered a standard rule of English to use an uppercase letter to start proper nouns (which are nouns that refer to specific people, places, or things—meaning one’s that have specific names), such as Jess, Mexico, and Nintendo. Using an uppercase letter at the start of a word can change the way the reader interprets its meaning, as in the case of polish (a verb meaning to make something shinier) and Polish (an adjective describing someone from Poland) or apple (the fruit) and Apple (the company).

We also use an uppercase letter for the first letter of the first word in a sentence. Sometimes, we use an uppercase letter for the first letter of each word in a title, as in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. This is sometimes called title case.

Some acronyms and abbreviations are written using all uppercase letters, such as NASA and U.S. A word written entirely in uppercase letters (like WHAT) is said to be written in caps or all caps.

Example: A lot of people don’t bother using uppercase letters in text messages unless they want to emphasize something.

Where does

uppercase letter come from?

The term uppercase letter has been used since at least the 1730s. The words uppercase and lowercase come from printing. The process of physically printing things with printing presses involved trays, called cases, that were divided into compartments for holding different kinds of type (blocks with letters on them). The upper case held capital letters and the lower case held what came to be known as lowercase letters.

It can be confusing to know whether or not to use an uppercase letter in certain situations, but a capitalization guide can help.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to uppercase letter?

upper-case letter (alternate hyphenated spelling)
upper case letter (alternate two-word spelling)

What are some synonyms for uppercase letter?

capital letter
capital
uppercase (when uppercase is used as a noun)

What are some words that share a root or word element with uppercase letter?

uppercase
lowercase
lowercase letter
letter

What are some words that often get used in discussing uppercase letter?

capitalize
capitalization
spelling
first
word
sentence
title

How are

uppercase letters used in real life?

Uppercase letters are used in the beginning of names and other proper nouns, at the beginning of sentences, at the beginning of words in titles, and in some abbreviations. In casual use, a word might be written in uppercase letters for emphasis.

She’s back with the classics and the riddles and the puzzles. The uppercase letters say APRIL NINTH. 👏🏻 @taylorswift13 You deserve this, so much. 💛 https://t.co/x7KsswdBPj

— anne⁰⁰ ఌ😺 (@ANNEtisocial) February 11, 2021

Identifying and matching uppercase and lowercase letters using these colorful underwater themed cards. Games make learning fun! 🐟 🐠 #IslipENL #LearningIsFun @WingElemIslip pic.twitter.com/QjUSLvuZ57

— Jaclyn Brady (@JaclynBrady17) February 5, 2021

i wonder if i’ll ever use uppercase letters for anything besides emphasis again

— h☼ (@hl_cutie) July 8, 2019

Try using

uppercase letters!

Which of the following kinds of words is often spelled with an uppercase letter at the beginning?

A. proper nouns
B. the first word in a sentence
C. the first word in a title
D. all of the above

How to use upper-case letters in a sentence

Certain features of its history suggest why this may be the case.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
And, in the case of fluoride, at least, that doubt might actually be justified.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Her latest book, Heretic: The Case for a Muslim Reformation, will be published in April by HarperCollins.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Our Duty Is to Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive|Ayaan Hirsi Ali|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Their friendship began when Krauss, who was chairman of the physics department at Case Western in Cleveland, sought out Epstein.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking|M.L. Nestel|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

A grand juror in the Ferguson case is suing to be able to explain exactly what went down in the courtroom.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“Perhaps you do not speak my language,” she said in Urdu, the tongue most frequently heard in Upper India.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
The case was an assault and battery that came off between two men named Brown and Henderson.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;|Various
In this case, I suspect, there was co-operant a strongly marked childish characteristic, the love of producing an effect.
Children's Ways|James Sully
On the upper part of the stem the whorls are very close together, but they are more widely separated at the lower portion.
How to Know the Ferns|S. Leonard Bastin
Sometimes in the case of large plants, cones have been known to occur on the tips of the branches of the Marsh Horsetail.
How to Know the Ferns|S. Leonard Bastin

Lowercase and Uppercase Letters: Definition and Meaning

The 26 letters in the English alphabet can take two forms: uppercase and lowercase. Each form serves a different function. Most of the letters you see in writing are lowercase.

Definition of Lowercase Letters

Lowercase letters are smaller and sometimes take a slightly different form than their uppercase counterparts.

Notice the L that starts the word Lowercase in the previous sentence. It’s larger than the other letters and looks different than the l in the word letters.

Lowercase letters are used more often than uppercase letters. They follow the first letter of a sentence or the first letter of a proper noun.

English Alphabet Lowercase Letters

These are the lowercase forms of each of the 26 letters in the English alphabet.

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

Definition of Uppercase Letters

Uppercase letters, also called capital letters, are used to start sentences and as the initial letter of a proper noun.

Uppercase letters are larger than their lowercase counterparts. Though most uppercase letters look similar to their lowercase partners, others take slightly different forms.

English Alphabet Uppercase (Capital) Letters

These are the uppercase or capital forms of the 26 letters in the English alphabet.

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

When Should You Use Lowercase Letters?

It’s easier to explain the function of lowercase letters by saying what they don’t do. Lowercase letters do not start sentences and are not used as the initial letter of a proper noun.

They are used for all the remaining letters in sentences and following the first letter of proper nouns.

Most of the letters you write will be lowercase. A quick scan of this article shows that uppercase letters are used in specific circumstances and lowercase are used everywhere else!

In the first sentence of the paragraph above, Most of the letters you write will be lowercase., only the M in Most is an uppercase letter. All the others are lowercase.

Use Lowercase Letters with Common Nouns

Nouns are words that represent a person, place, thing, or idea. There are two types of nouns: common and proper.

Common nouns refer to a non-specific person, place, thing, or idea. They are generic terms. The chart below shows the common noun version of the proper nouns used above.

Proper noun (capitalize first letter)	Common noun (lowercase letters)
Joanna	person
London	city
France	country
Tuesday	weekday
September	month

Proper nouns refer to a specific person, place, thing, or idea. For example, the name of a particular person, city, country, day of the week, or month is a proper noun.

Joanna
London
France
Tuesday
September

The initial letter of a proper noun is an uppercase letter. The rest are lowercase.

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Sentence Examples with Proper and Common Nouns

These sentences contain both proper and common nouns (in bold). The proper nouns are capitalized, the common nouns contain only lowercase letters.

After work, Sue met friends for dinner.
The ancient poet Homer wrote The Odyssey and The Iliad.
My favorite day of the week is Sunday, and my favorite month is July.

When Should You Use Uppercase Letters?

Most often, capital letters are used to start sentences and proper nouns, but those aren’t the only times.

This list explains other circumstances that require uppercase letters.

1. The first word of a quote that’s part of a complete sentence

When an embedded quote is also a complete sentence, the first word of that quote should be capitalized.

Mary said, “We should go to the beach.”

2. Titles of literary or artistic works

Capitalize the first, last, and all other words in a title except conjunctions, articles, and prepositions of fewer than four letters. This is called “Title Case.” (Some style guides have even more specific guidelines, so always check!)

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Hunger Games
The Fault in Our Stars

3. Professional titles preceding a person’s name

When a title such as “Dr.” or “President” precedes a specific person’s name, capitalize it.

We will now hear from Dr. Jones, our keynote speaker.
President Biden will give a speech later today.

Use lowercase letters if the title is used as a description or not followed by a specific name.

The keynote speaker is Martin Jones, a doctor.
I’m watching the president give a speech.

If you feel overwhelmed by the different rules of capitalization, remember that ProWritingAid is here to help!

It’s a thorough grammar checker (and more) that will detect errors in capitalization for you.

4. The pronoun “I”

You should always capitalize the pronoun “I.”

5. Acronyms and Initialisms

An acronym is a word formed by taking the first letter of each word of a compound term. Initialisms are similar abbreviations, except that the letters are pronounced individually rather than forming a new word.

PIN is an acronym for personal identification number and is pronounced as the word “pin”
FBI is an initialism for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is pronounced as individual letters F-B-I

Some phrases are also abbreviated as initialisms:

“Talk to you later” is TTYL
“As soon as possible” is ASAP

Acronyms and initialisms should always appear in uppercase form.

6. When adding emphasis

Be careful with this use of uppercase letters!

When you put words or sentences in ALL CAPS, a practice often seen in texts or posts, you add emphasis to your words. Consider how that emphasis will be perceived.

ALL CAPS statements carry more aggression and intensity than lowercase words. That’s not always a bad thing.

For example, texting someone “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” instead of “Happy birthday” is a way to convey excitement and show you really mean those good wishes.

Other times, ALL CAPS can sound accusatory, demeaning, or rude.

Remember that ALL CAPS in writing makes it seem as though the speaker is yelling. Keep that in mind before you press “send” on your uppercase text or post!

A Summary of Lowercase and Uppercase Letters

Lowercase letters are used for common nouns and for every letter after the initial letter of the first word of a sentence.

Uppercase letters are most often used at the start of sentences and as the first letter of proper nouns, though there are other times to use the capital letter form too.

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CAPITAL LETTERS - what are they (large or small)? Example

Capital letters are uppercase letters that are larger than lowercase letters.

What are capital letters?

In Russian writing, letters differ in their graphic design: some are large, others are small or lowercase. Large letters are often referred to as capital letters. As can be understood from this "speaking" name, they begin headings, that is, they indicate the beginning of

sentences
period
paragraphs
stanzas
someone else's speech, etc.

- By everyone is born for some work, - objected E. Hemingway and added:
- By everyone who walks the earth has his duties in life.

In an old style heals me.
E There is charm in ancient speech.
About is not like your words
and are more modern and sharper.

Bella Akhmadulina

Capital letters are a common name. In Russian, a special linguistic term is used - capital letters. Once upon a time, at the dawn of handwriting, they were really carefully written at the beginning of a line, and decorated in every possible way to distinguish them from other ordinary letters. Emphasizing the initial letter of the first word is the oldest writing technique that was used before the invention of printing. When typography appeared, the tradition of using capital letters at the beginning of a sentence and to highlight proper names survived.

Let's consider in detail the cases in which uppercase or lowercase letters are used in modern Russian.

The use of capital letters

Capital letters are used not only in headings, at the beginning of sentences, but also to highlight certain words found anywhere in written speech. These special words include
- proper names;
- items.
In Russian orthography, proper names must be written with a capital letter:

1. names, patronymics, surnames, pseudonyms, nicknames of people, names of gods, mythical creatures, fairy-tale and literary heroes
- Tanya, Vasilek, Andryushka;
- Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin;
- Gaius Julius Caesar;
- Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko;
- O'Henry (William Sidney Porter)
- Curly, Chernysh, Beetle, Top;
- Zeus, Hera, Apollo;
- Vasilisa the Beautiful, Cinderella, The Nutcracker.
2. animal names
- Tortilla turtle;
- cat Marquis;
- dog Oliver;
3. geographical names, except for generic words (krai, region, district, city, settlement, village, river, lake, mountain, sea, bay, etc.)
- Krasnodar Territory;
- Saratov region;
- City of Mosty;
- Veliky Ustyug;
- Sokol settlement;
- Ponizovye village;
- Volga river;
- Lake Seliger;
- Red Sea;
- Everest.
4. astronomical names
- Cygnus constellation;
- Solar Galaxy;
- Alpha Centauri.
The words "Earth", "Moon" and "Sun" as the names of celestial bodies are written with a capital letter and with a lowercase letter if they are used as common nouns. Compare:

Recently, astronomers have difficulty distinguishing spots on the Sun.

Rosehip stood with large flowers turned towards the sun, covered with many buds (K. G. Paustovsky).

Note that in proper names all words , their components, are capitalized , except for nouns denoting generic concepts and service words, for example:
- city of Rostov-on-Don;
- Ludwig van Beethoven;
- Vicomte de Bragelonne;
- Vasco da Gamma.
In this way, proper names differ from the names of organizations, institutions, industrial associations, architectural monuments, etc.

In titles, capitalize only the first word , for example:
- Socio-Political Research Foundation;
- Research Institute of Road Engineering;
- Main Department of Internal Affairs;
- House of scientists;
- Bronze Horseman.
The name may contain more capital letters if it contains a proper name, for example:
- Kristall Association;
- Information Telegraph Agency of Russia;
- Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory;
- Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
The capital letter is also used in pronouns you, you, your in documents, business letters when addressing one person politely.

Uppercase and lowercase letters / Sudo Null IT News

I have gathered here some not so obvious facts about uppercase and lowercase letters that a programmer may encounter at work. Many of you have translated strings into “all uppercase” (uppercase), “all lowercase” (lowercase), “first capital, and the rest lowercase” (titlecase). Even more popular is the case-insensitive comparison operation. On a global scale, such operations can be quite non-trivial. The post is structured as a "collection of misconceptions" with counterexamples.

1. If I convert the string to uppercase or lowercase, the number of Unicode characters does not change.

No. The text may contain lowercase ligatures, which do not correspond to one character in upper case. For example, when translating to uppercase: ﬁ (U+FB00) -> FI (U+0046, U+0049)

2. Ligatures are a perversion, no one uses them. If they are not taken into account, then I'm right.

No. Some letters with diacritics do not have an exact match in other case, so you have to use a combined character. Let's say the Afrikaans language has the letter ŉ (U+0149). In upper case, it corresponds to a combination of two characters: (U+02BC, U+004E). If you come across a transliteration of Arabic text, you may encounter (U+1E96), which also does not have a single-character match in upper case, so you will have to replace it with (U+0048, U+0331). The Wakhi language has a letter (U+01F0) with a similar problem. You may argue that this is exotic, but there are 23,000 articles in Afrikaans on Wikipedia.

3. All right, but let's consider a combined character (involving modifying or combining code points) as one character. Then the length will still be preserved.

No. There is, for example, the letter "escet" ß (U+00DF) in German. When converted to uppercase, it turns into two SS characters (U+0053, U+0053).

4. Okay, okay, got it. We will assume that the number of Unicode characters can increase, but not more than twice.

No. There are specific Greek letters, for example, (U+0390) that turn into three Unicode characters (U+0399, U+0308, U+0301)

5. Let's talk about titlecase. Everything is simple here: I took the first character from the word, translated it into uppercase, took all the subsequent ones, translated it into lowercase.

No. Let's remember the same ligatures. If a word in lowercase begins with ﬂ (U+FB02), then in uppercase the ligature becomes FL (U+0046, U+004C), but in titlecase it becomes Fl (U+0046, U+006C). The same with ß, but, theoretically, words cannot begin with it.

6. Those ligatures again! Well, we take the first character from the word, translate it into uppercase, if more than one character is obtained, then we leave the first one, and the rest back into lowercase.
Then it will definitely work.
Won't work. There is, for example, the digraph ǳ (U+01F3), which can be used in text in Polish, Slovak, Macedonian or Hungarian. In uppercase it corresponds to the digraph Ǳ (U+01F1), and in titlecase it corresponds to the digraph ǲ (U+01F2). There are other digraphs. The Greek language, on the other hand, will please you with jokes with hypogegrammen and progegrammen (fortunately, this is rarely found in modern texts). In general, the uppercase and titlecase variants for a character can be different, and there are separate entries for them in the Unicode standard.

7. Good, but at least the result of converting a character's case to uppercase or lowercase does not depend on its position in the word.

No. For example, the Greek capital sigma Σ (U+03A3) becomes a lowercase ς (U+03C2) at the end of a word and σ (U+03C3) in the middle.

8. Oh, okay, let's process the Greek sigma separately.
But in any case, the same character in the same position in the text is converted in the same way.
No. For example, in most Latin languages, the lower case for I (U+0049) is i (U+0069), but not in Turkish and Azeri. There, the lower case for I is ı (U+0131) and the capital case for i is İ (U+0130). In Turkey, because of this, enchanting bugs are sometimes observed in a variety of software. And if you come across a text in Lithuanian with accents, then, for example, a capital Ì (U + 00CC), which will turn not into ì (U + 00EC), but into (U + 0069, U + 0307, U + 0300) . In general, the result of the conversion also depends on the language. Most of the complex cases are described here.

9. What a horror! Well, let's now correctly convert to uppercase and lowercase. Comparing two words case-insensitively is not a problem: we translate both into lowercase and compare.

There are also many pitfalls that follow from the above.
Learn more