capital
/ˈkæpɪtəl/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.01 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Money and wealth: the means to acquire or produce goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.
Uncountable
noun
Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as tools and bulldozers (equipment) and office buildings (structures).
Uncountable
noun
The capitalist class; investors considered collectively with respect to their societal (economic, political, cultural, etc.) influence.
Uncountable
noun
A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: assets"
- "He does not have enough capital to start a business."
- "He pointed out that it takes both labour and capital to produce goods."
- "The markets crashing symbolized capital’s discontent with the tax reforms passed."
- "He warned us darkly that capital will never be sated."
- "Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States of America."
Etymology
From Middle English capital, borrowed partly from Old French capital and partly from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (in sense “head of cattle”), from caput (“head”) (English cap) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle. The noun is from the adjective. In the fourth sense, displaced native Old English hēafodburg, equivalent to head + borough (“city”). Compare chattel and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”. Doublet of cattle and chattel.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: capital, capitālis, *kap-, capitale, capitellum, capitulum
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkæpɪtəl/
- British English: /ˈkæpɪtəl/
Usage
- Uncountable
- Countable
- British usage
- Dated
- Slang