majuscule

M3A1J8U1S1C3U1L1E1
UK/ˈmædʒəskjuːl/

noun

A capital letter, especially one used in ancient manuscripts.

Opposite
Scrabble 20

Meanings

nounmajuscule (countable and uncountable, plural majuscules)

plural majuscules

  1. countableA capital letter, especially one used in ancient manuscripts.
  2. uncountableCapital letters.

    Many of these strips are palimpsest and bear earlier writing in majuscule and old minuscule.

    1975, Aubrey Diller, The Textual Tradition of Strabo’s Geography: With Appendix, the Manuscripts of Eustathius’ Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes, A. M. Hakkert, →ISBN, page 47
    2 more examples

    Up to this point, Loveday appeared to be an exceptionally typical undergraduate, in that he wrote in majuscule what his fellows scribbled in lower case.

    1951, Arthur Calder-Marshall, The Magic of My Youth, R. Hart-Davis, page 111

    But it is far from impossible that a scribe writing in minuscule should choose majuscule for a correction at this point: for example, if he had written u for n the only way to avoid all misunderstanding might be to indicate the correction with a capital letter.

    1972, Wiener Studien, H. Böhlaus, →ISBN, page 89

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

adjectiveof or relating to a style of writing characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters; 4th to 8th centuries

Similar
Opposite

adjectiveuppercase

nounone of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinmajuscula
  2. Frenchmajuscule
  3. Englishmajuscule

Borrowed from French majuscule, from Latin majuscula (littera).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Spanish mayúscula, letra mayúscula
  • mayúsculaupper-case letter
  • letra mayúsculaupper-case letter
  • versalupper-case letter
  • titularupper-case letter
Cite this entry
APA

majuscule. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/majuscule

MLA

“majuscule.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/majuscule. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “majuscule,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/majuscule.

Source: majuscule on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.