majuscule

Did you mean: majuscule, capital letter

Dictionary: ma·jus·cule (mə-jŭs'kyūl, măj'ə-skyūl') pronunciation

n.
A large letter, either capital or uncial, used in writing or printing.

[French, from Latin māiusculus, somewhat larger, diminutive of māior, greater.]

majuscule ma·jus'cule or ma·jus'cu·lar (mə-jŭs'kyə-lər) adj.

Search unanswered questions...

Browse: Unanswered questions | Most-recent questions | Reference library

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: majuscule

Top

Uppercase, capital, or large letter in calligraphy, in contrast to the minuscule, lowercase, or small letter. All the letters in a majuscule script are contained between a single pair of real or theoretical horizontal lines. The earliest known Roman majuscule letters are in the style known as square capitals, distinguished by downstrokes that are heavier than upstrokes and by serifs (short strokes at right angles to the top and bottom of a letter). Square capitals were used mainly in inscriptions on Roman imperial monuments. Rustic capitals, used in books and official documents, formed a freer, more elliptical script. Roman cursive capitals, a running-hand script used for notes and letters, were a forerunner of the minuscule scripts that appeared later.

For more information on majuscule, visit Britannica.com.

Obscure Words: majuscule

Top

[fr. L. majusculus, rather large] /MA jus kyul/ compare minuscule
[n] a large (capital) letter [adj] uppercase; so, majuscular

WordNet: majuscule

Top

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adjective has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: of or relating to a style of writing characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters; 4th to 8th centuries
Antonym: minuscule (meaning #1)

Meaning #2: uppercase
Synonyms: capital, great

Did you mean: majuscule, capital letter

Learn More

	Edfrith
	Book of Kells (art)
	books and writing

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more
		WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more