Meanings
alternative camelcase · alternative camelCase · alternative CamelCase
- oftenuncountablecomputingEspecially in computer programming, and in the names of brands and organizations: a style of typography in which several words are concatenated together without any spaces between them, with the first letter of each word (sometimes excluding the first word) capitalized.First known use 1990s
Near-synonyms: intercapping, intercaps
5 more examples
In the SMIL 1.0 specification, test criteria were hyphenated (e.g., system-bitrate and system-screen-size). This was deprecated by the SMIL 2.0 specification in favor of camel case attributes to be consistent with other developing standards.
2001 September, Jennifer Niederst, “Introduction to SMIL”, in Lorrie LeJeune, Richard Korman, editors, Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference, 2nd edition, Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 457It's common practice to name private members in camelCase, that is with an initial lower case letter and a capital for the start of each word.
2003, Rob Birdwell [et al.], “Introduction to Objects”, in Beginning ASP.NET 1.0 with C#, Wrox Programmer to Programmer, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 298Write element and attribute names in a style called "CamelCase." Elements reflecting an entity should be written in UpperCamelCase; elements and attributes reflecting a property should be written in lowerCamelCase.
2003, Berthold Daum, Udo Merten, “Groundwork”, in System Architecture with XML, San Francisco, Calif.: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, →ISBN, page 81Type and attribute names, and occasionally variable names, are traditionally written using camel case (with the first word lowercased and subsequent words title-cased, like dateTime), although there are exceptions to this rule (such as anyURI and QName), and some people prefer hyphenated lowercase words (like local-name).
2004 January, Michael Brundage, “Practical Examples”, in XQuery: The XML Query Language, Boston, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, part III (Application), pages 195–196RadioShack is an example of a company name that uses camel case. In some cases, technology uses camel case, such as VistaVision, which is a widescreen format for movies. It's little wonder that camel case appears in application code—everyone already knows how to use it. […] Microsoft and other industry leaders have modified the standard use of camel case. When you talk about camel casing for .NET, what you really mean is that the first letter of each word, except the first word, is capitalized. For example, if you want to create a variable that contains the background color for an object, you might call it backColor.
2009, John Paul Mueller, “Coding the Application”, in C# Design and Development (Expert One-on-One), Indianapolis, Ind.: Wrox Programmer to Programmer, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 243Synonyms: camelback, HumpyCase, intercapping, intercaps
Synonyms & antonyms
nounEspecially in computer programming, and in the names of brands and organizations: a style of typography in which several words are concatenated together without any spaces between them, with the first letter of each word (sometimes excluding the first word) capitalized.
Origin
From camel + case (“nature of a piece of alphabetic type”), probably modelled after lowercase and uppercase, from a fancied resemblance of the capital letters to the humps of a two-humped camel.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic نسق الجمل
- نسق الجملstyle of typography
Chinese Mandarin 駝峰式大小寫 /驼峰式大小写
- 駝峰式大小寫 /驼峰式大小写 (tuófēngshìdàxiǎoxiě)style of typography
Czech velbloudí notace
- velbloudí notacestyle of typography
Esperanto miksuskla
- miksusklastyle of typography
Estonian läbiv suurtäht
- läbiv suurtähtstyle of typography
Finnish CamelCase
- CamelCasestyle of typography
German Binnenmajuskel, Binnenversal
- Binnenmajuskelstyle of typography
- Binnenversalstyle of typography
- Binnenversaliestyle of typography
Hebrew קאמל קייס
- קאמל קייסstyle of typography
Italian notazione a cammello
- notazione a cammellostyle of typography
Japanese キャメルケース
- キャメルケース (kyamerukēsu)style of typography
Korean 카멜 표기법, 낙타 표기법
- 카멜 표기법 (kamel pyogibeop)style of typography
- 낙타 표기법 (nakta pyogibeop)style of typography
Lithuanian kupranugario Didžioji
- kupranugario Didžiojistyle of typography
Persian نگارش شتری
- نگارش شتری (negâreš-e šotori)style of typography
Russian верблю́жий реги́стр
- верблю́жий реги́стр (verbljúžij regístr)style of typography
Spanish cameyúsculas
- cameyúsculasstyle of typography
Swedish kamelnotation
- kamelnotationstyle of typography
Tamil கமெல்கேசு
- கமெல்கேசு (kamelkēcu)style of typography
Ukrainian верблю́дячий регістр
- верблю́дячий регістр (verbljúdjačyj rehistr)style of typography
Cite this entry
camel case. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/camel%20case
“camel case.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/camel%20case. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “camel case,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/camel%20case.
Source: camel case on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.