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This page is kept for historical interest. Any policies mentioned may be obsolete.
Note: Automatic capitalization has been turned off since 2006 for all Wiktionaries.
This page is a documentation of the use of capitalization in page titles on Wiktionary. Particular emphasis is placed on this project, a dictionary project where definitions should not be capitalized.
Capitalization of Wiktionaries
Note: automatic capitalization has been turned off since 2006 for all Wiktionaries.
Languages that do not have capital letters in their usual script:
ka (modern Georgian: Mkedruli-only)
he (Hebrew)
ar (Arabic)
fa (Persian)
ha (Hausa)
ps (Pashto)
ug (Uyghur)
ur (Urdu)
All Indian languages
as (Assamese)
be (Bengali)
gu (Gujarati)
hi (Hindi: Devanagari)
kn (Kannada)
ml (Malayalam)
mr (Marathi)
pa (Panjabi: Gurmukhi)
sa (Sanskrit: Devanagari)
te (Telugu)
ko (Korean)
bo (Tibetan)
km (Kmer)
lo (Lao)
th (Thai)
ja (Japanese)
Remark: Kana and Kanji (CJK-letter) has no capitalization. But Roma-ji does capitalize proper nouns. So ja:日本 is not nihon but Nihon in Roma-ji.
zh (Chinese)
xtz (Palawa Kani)
Note: There are no Meta Wiki projects in Palawa Kani (a constructed Australian Aboriginal language of Tasmania). However, Wiktionary entries for Palawa Kani words (including place names, e.g lutruwita = Tasmania) should not be capitalised. The language is written only in the Latin script.
Languages with capitalization
Languages that have capital letters:
Capitalization of language names
Languages that capitalize language names (i.e. English vs. english):
af (Afrikaans)
cy (Welsh)
de (German) Note that in „man spricht Deutsch“ = "one speaks German", the noun "Deutsch" is capitalized, but in „die deutsche Sprache“ = "the German language", the adjective "deutsche" is not capitalized.
bar (Bavarian, Austrian, Tyrolian)
gsw (Allemannic, Suebian, Alsatian, Swiss German)
ksh (Kölsch (Ripuarian))
lb (Luxemburgian)
nds (low German)
pfl (Palatinian)
en (English)
ga (Irish)
id (Indonesian)
la (Latin) Note: "lingua" is not part of the language name, but is essentially like the Wikipedia disambiguating convention: "Spanish language" = "lingua Hispanica".
li (Limburgish)
nl (Dutch)
sco (Scots)
tr (Turkish)
vi (Vietnamese) Same as Latin: "tiếng Việt", "tiếng Latinh"; however, an alternative style is of the form "Việt ngữ", "Anh ngữ", which does need to be capitalized.
Languages that always capitalize names of peoples, either as nouns or as adjectives (e.g. the Germans = the German people):
br (Breton)
cy (Welsh)
dsb (Lower Sorbian)
nl (Dutch)
en (English)
ga (Irish)
hsb (Upper Sorbian)
id (Indonesian)
la (Latin)
sco (Scots)
vi (Vietnamese) — "dân Anh", "người Anh"
Languages that capitalize names of peoples only as nouns but not as adjectives (e.g. the Germans = the german people); these languages often make distinction between the capitalized noun for nationality and the adjective for culture (origin, language spoken):
bar (Bavarian, Austrian, Tyrolian)
bs (Bosnian) — as in Englezi [the English], but not in engleski narod [the english people]
cs (Czech) — as in Angličané [the English], but not in anglický lid [the english people]
de (German) — as in die Engländer [the English], but not in das englische Volk [the english people]
fr (French) — as in les Allemands [the Germans], but not in le peuple allemand [the german people]
gsw (Allemannic, Suebian, Alsatian, Swiss German)
hr (Croatian), as in Švicarci [the Swiss], but not in švicarski narod [the swiss people]
li (Limburgish)
ksh (Kölsch (Ripuarian))
lb (Luxemburgian)
mk (Macedonian) — as in Англичани [the English], but not in англиски народ [the english people]
nds (low German)
pl (Polish) — Anglik [Englishman], but naród angielski [the English nation]
pfl (Palatinian)
sh (Serbo-Croatian) — as in Englezi [the English], but not in engleski narod [the english people]
sk (Slovak) — as in Angličania [the English], but not in anglický ľud [the english people]
sr (Serbian) — as in Englezi [the English'], but not in engleski narod [the english people]
Languages that do not capitalize names of peoples:
ast (Asturian)
bg (Bulgarian)
ca (Catalan) - examples: els armenis, el poble armeni
da (Danish)
eo (Esperanto)
es (Spanish)
eu (Basque)
fi (Finnish)
hu (Hungarian)
hy (Armenian)
ia (Interlingua)
it (Italian)
lt (Lithuanian)
lv (Latvian)
nap (Neapolitan)
no (Norwegian)
nb (Norwegian Bokmål)
nn (Norwegian Nynorsk)
os (Ossetian)
pt (Portuguese)
ro (Romanian)
ru (Russian)
sv (Swedish)
uk (Ukrainian)
uz (Uzbek)
vec (Venetian)
To be classified:
ms (Malay)
mdf (Moksha)
oc (Occitan)
tt (Tatar)
vls (West Flemish)
Capitalization of month names
Languages that capitalize month names (i.e. March vs. march):
af (Afrikaans)
br (Breton)
cy (Welsh) The word mis (the month of) before a month name is not normally capitalized except in titles, but it is not an error if it is capitalized.
el (Modern Greek)
en (English)
de (German)
bar (Bavarian, Austrian, Tyrolian)
gsw (Allemannic, Suebian, Alsatian, Swiss German)
ksh (Kölsch (Ripuarian))
lb (Luxemburgian)
nds (low German)
pfl (Palatinian)
hz (Herero)
id (Indonesian)
la (Latin)
ms (Malay)
sco (Scots)
ve (Venda)
xh (Xhosa)
zu (Zulu)
Languages that do not capitalize month names:
ast (Asturian) Month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
az (Azerbaijani)
bs (Bosnian) Month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
bg (Bulgarian)
hr (Croatian) Month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
ca (Catalan)
cs (Czech)
da (Danish)
dsb (Lower Sorbian)
eo (Esperanto)
es (Spanish)
et (Estonian)
eu (Basque)
fi (Finnish)
fr (French)
hr (Croatian)
hsb (Upper Sorbian)
hu (Hungarian)
hy (Armenian)
ia (Interlingua)
is (Icelandic)
it (Italian)
li (Limburgish)
lv (Latvian)
lt (Lithuanian)
mk (Macedonian) Month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
nap (Neapolitan)
no (Norwegian)
nb (Norwegian Bokmål)
nn (Norwegian Nynorsk)
nl (Dutch)
oc (Occitan)
pl (Polish)
pt (Brazilian and Standard Portuguese) Months should not be capitalized in either.
ro (Romanian)
ru (Russian)
os (Ossetian)
sh (Serbo-Croatian) Month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
sr (Serbian) Month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
sk (Slovak)
sl (Slovenian)
sv (Swedish)
tr (Turkish)
uk (Ukrainian)
uz (Uzbek)
vec (Venetian)
vi (Vietnamese) Typically lowercase these days, but may be capitalized.
wa (Walloon)
Capitalization of day names
Languages that capitalize day names (i.e. Monday vs. monday):
af (Afrikaans)
br (Breton)
cy (Welsh) Dydd (day) is capitalized when part of a day name, e.g. "Dydd Mawrth" = "Tuesday".
en (English)
de (German) Capitalized in der Montag = "the monday", a noun, but not in montags = "(every) monday / on (a) monday", an adverb.
bar (Bavarian, Austrian, Tyrolian)
gsw (Allemannic, Suebian, Alsatian, Swiss German)
ksh (Kölsch (Ripuarian))
lb (Luxemburgian)
nds (low German)
pfl (Palatinian)
el (Modern Greek)
hz (Herero)
id (Indonesian)
la (Latin) Like languages [see above], "dies" is not capitalized: dies Martii. an alternative name for Sunday, Dominica, should be capitalized.
sco (Scots)
ve (Venda)
xh (Xhosa)
zu (Zulu)
Languages that do not capitalize day names:
ast (Asturian) Days of the week are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
bg (Bulgarian) Days of the week are never capitalized, unless considered as (honorary) surnames or titles of something (including historical events, e.g. the April Uprising = Априлско въстание).
bs (Bosnian) Days of the week are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
hr (Croatian) Days of the week are never capitalized.
ca (Catalan)
cs (Czech)
da (Danish)
dsb (Lower Sorbian)
eo (Esperanto)
es (Spanish)
eu (Basque)
fi (Finnish)
fr (French)
hsb (Upper Sorbian)
hu (Hungarian)
hy (Armenian)
ia (Interlingua)
it (Italian)
li (Limburgish)
lt (Lithuanian)
lv (Latvian)
mk (Macedonian)
nl (Dutch)
nap (Neapolitan)
no (Norwegian)
nb (Norwegian Bokmål)
nn (Norwegian Nynorsk)
oc (Occitan)
os (Ossetian)
pl (Polish)
pt (Portuguese)
ro (Romanian)
ru (Russian)
sk (Slovak)
sh (Serbo-Croatian) Days of the week are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
sr (Serbian) Days of the week are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something.
sv (Swedish)
uk (Ukrainian)
uz (Uzbek)
vec (Venetian)
vi (Vietnamese) Usually lowercase these days, but may be capitalized.
