Capital

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkæpɪtəl/

Definitions

1. A city that serves as the seat of government for a country or state
2. A financial asset used to generate wealth, the primary city for administrative functions, and significant importance in political, economic, or cultural contexts describes the term
3. This refers to a city where the central government operates, monetary resources for business growth, and the significance of cultural centers as influential sites

Etymology: The modern sense of "capital" as a city began as a meaning of "head": Old English called such a place "hēafodburg," literally "head borough," and the Latin-derived word eventually displaced it. The Latin root is "caput," meaning "head," which also gave English "cap" and "chapter." The adjective "capitalis" meant "of the head," and in Latin it could describe a head of cattle, a sense that carries into trade. Medieval economies traded cattle heads as a common and valuable transaction, and "capital" came to mean the wealth or principal sum behind such dealings. The noun grew out of the adjective, and the same metaphor of "head" as the top or chief thing runs through its uses. A "capital" letter sits at the head of a sentence, and a "capital" city is the chief seat of government. The architectural "capital," the top of a column, comes from a separate Latin diminutive, "capitellum," which was a doublet of the same root. Its relation to the financial and civic senses is shared ancestry rather than direct borrowing.

Synonyms: money, assets, funds, resources, wealth

Antonyms: debt, liabilities, poverty, insolvency, deficit