Should the word kindergarten be capitalized?

Answer 1

Probably not, although the question is more complicated than it seems.

Part of the confusion stems from kindergarten being a foreign word importation. The word was coined by Friedrich Fröbel, a German educator who founded a school for young children in the 19th-century. All nouns are capitalized in German, and Kindergarten was no exception.

There is some inconsistency over whether German importations into English should retain their capitalization. For words that have become extremely common, such as bratwurst or angst, the answer seems to be no. However Schadenfreude, an uncommon but still familiar word, is capitalized in the Oxford English Dictionary.

It is difficult to determine at exactly what point a German importation reaches a level of usage sufficient to drop the capitalization. Of course since kindergarten is a very familiar word to most English-speakers, we could assume that lowercase is correct.

But it's not as simple as that. Style guides from some authorities, such as the International Reading Association, have in the past instructed writers to capitalize all grade levels, such as First Grade, High School, etc. Kindergarten would be subject to that rule. While the IRA guide has departed from that policy, the confusion lingers.

Complicating things even more are those who insist that references to a particular kindergarten program be capitalized, as in Springfield Elementary Kindergarten or Ms. Johnson's Kindergarten. There is also the issue of abbreviation, as in K-5 or pre-K. In those cases, the capital K reflects the convention of capitalizing abbreviations, not the convention of capitalizing the word itself.

Taking all of that into account gives us several rules for different cases. If you are referring to kindergarten in general (and in English), you may use the lowercase. Specific references to a single kindergarten program may require capitalization, and you should use a capital K in abbreviations.