Decapitalised

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. Converted from uppercase to lowercase letters; rendered with initial letters in lowercase instead of capitals; changed from a format using capital letters to all small letters
2. Altered text so that uppercase characters are replaced by lowercase ones; transformed writing to omit capital initials; modified typography from capitalized to fully lowercase form
3. Text adjusted by switching capital letters to their small letter equivalents; reformatted to use no initial capitals; converted lettering to a style without uppercase characters

Etymology: The verb is a plain formation: the prefix "de-", which reverses or removes an action, added to "capitalise," which means to write something with capital letters. Its ending "-ed" marks it as a past participle or adjective. The prefix is the Latin "de-", so the whole word combines a Latin prefix with a verb built on "capital." "Capital" in the letter sense comes from the Latin "capitalis," meaning "of the head," from "caput," "head." The same root gives the financial "capital," which originally referred to principal sums and the head count of livestock, and the city "capital," the seat of government. Capital letters were so named because they were the large letters used at the head of a text or name. Removing them produces lowercase, the letters that were once called "minuscule" by scribes.

Synonyms: lowercased, uncapitalized, unmajuscule, minuscule

Antonyms: capitalised, capitalized, majuscule, uppercased