Language Arts A capitonym is a sequence of letters that has a different meaning and sometimes a different pronunciation (that is, it is a different word) depending on whether or not it is capitalized. This article explains capitonyms and their use.
The word capitonym comes from the word capital and the root onym, which is used as the ending for words used in a classification system, like taxonym, acronym, and heteronym (for more on the latter, see the article “Heteronym”).
More About Capitonyms
Capitonyms can be viewed as a specialized type of homograph. Homographs are words that are spelled exactly the same (homo means “the same,” and graph means “writing”). It is important to note that capitonyms work differently in English than they would in languages that have different rules of capitalization.
Capitonyms can be categorized several ways. One way to categorize them is by separating those that have related meanings and those who are not etymologically related and whose similarity is coincidental.
An example of a set of capitonyms with related meanings is the month of August, named for the Roman leader Augustus Caesar and the adjective august, from the same root that Augustus Caesar chose his name. An example of capitonyms with unrelated meanings is Herb, a nickname for Herbert, which reportedly has a Saxon or Teutonic background, and herb, from the Latin, herba.
Another way to categorize capitonyms is by separating those that are pronounced the same (that is, those that are homphones) from those with differing pronunciations. An example of capitonyms that may be pronounced the same is herb/Herb, although herb is also pronounced without the initial /h/. August and august on the other hand, always have different pronunciation: the month is accented on the first syllable, and the adjective on the second: /AW guhst/ as compared to /aw GUHST/.
Frequently Encountered Capitonyms
Some capitonyms pop up more often than others. The ones we may run into most frequently include the following:
| Capitalized Version | Lowercase Version |
| Bill, the name, short for William | bill, the amount to be paid |
| Catholic, short for the Roman Catholic Church | catholic, universal |
| China, the country | china, the dinnerware |
| Fiat, the automobile | fiat, the decree |
| Ionic, a classical architectural style | ionic, an adjective referring to ions |
| Job, the hero of a Biblical tale | job, an employment opportunity |
| Lent, the period in the Christian calendar | lent, past tense of the verb lend |
| Lima, the capital of Peru | lima, a sort of bean |
| March, the third month | march, a mode of walking used by the military |
| May, the fifth month | may, used to request permission |
| Mosaic, having to do with Moses | mosaic, collage with bits of stone, tile, or glass |
| Nice, a town in France | nice, a synonym for kind |
| Pole, a person from Poland | pole, a long stick |
| Polish, something from Poland | polish, what keeps silver shiny |
| Reading, a town | reading, a participle of the verb read |
| Scone, a town in Scotland, mentioned in Macbeth | scone, a savory or lightly sweetened cookie |
| Turkey, a country | turkey, a North American bird |
Notice that of these, the following pairs are pronounced identically in American English:
- Bill/bill
- Catholic/catholic
- China/china
- Fiat/fiat
- Ionic/ionic
- Lent/lent
- March/march
- May/may
- Mosaic/mosaic
- Pole/pole and
- Turkey/turkey
Those capitonyms from the list pronounced differently in American English are:
- Job /JOHB/ and job /JAHB/
- Lima /LEE muh/ and lima /LIE muh/
- Nice /NEES/ and nice /NISE/
- Polish /POH lihsh/ and polish /PAW lihsh/
- Reading /REHD ihng/ and reading /REED ihng/ and
- Scone /SKOOHN/ and scone /SKOHN/
There are some other capitonyms that arise from nicknames, often idiosyncratic or atypical ones - for example, Cat, a capitonym of cat, rather than Cathy or Kate or Katie as a nickname for Catherine - but there are still not that many. The fact is, the number of capitonyms in English is not very large.