different between capital vs grand

English

Alternative forms

• capitall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English capital, borrowed from Latin capit?lis (“of the head”) (in sense “head of cattle”), from caput (“head”) (English cap). Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle.

Compare chattel and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?kæ.p?.t?l/
• Homophone: capitol

Noun

capital (countable and uncountable, plural capitals)

1. (uncountable, economics) Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as steam shovels (equipment) and office buildings (structures).
2. (uncountable, business, finance, insurance) Money and wealth. The means to acquire goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.

3. (countable) A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.

4. (countable) The most important city in the field specified.
   • 2010 September, Charlie Brennan, "Active Athletes", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 83:

     Hollywood is the film capital, New York the theater capital, Las Vegas the gambling capital.

5. (countable) An uppercase letter.
6. (countable, architecture) The uppermost part of a column.
7. (uncountable) Knowledge; awareness; proficiency.

8. (countable, by extension) The chief or most important thing.

Usage notes

The homophone capitol refers only to a building, usually one that houses the legislative branch of a government, and often one located in a capital city.

Synonyms

• (An uppercase letter): caps (in the plural), majuscule

Antonyms

• (An uppercase letter): minuscule

Translations

Adjective

capital (not comparable)

1. Of prime importance.
   • 1708, Francis Atterbury, Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions : Preface

     a capital article in religion
2. Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation.

3. (comparable, Britain, dated) Excellent.

4. Involving punishment by death.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 517:

     Some 1,600 priests were deported, for example, while the total number of capital victims of the military commissions down to 1799 was only around 150.

5. Uppercase.

   Antonym: lower-case

   1. used to emphasise greatness or absoluteness
6. Of or relating to the head.

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “capital”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• capital at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• palatic, placita

Asturian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capit?lis.

Adjective

capital (epicene, plural capitales)

1. capital

Noun

capital f (plural capitales)

1. capital city (city designated as seat of government)

capital m (plural capitales)

1. capital (money)

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capit?lis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /k?.pi?tal/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ka.pi?tal/

Adjective

capital (feminine capitala, masculine plural capitals, feminine plural capitales)

1. capital

Derived terms

• pena capital
• set pecats capitals

Noun

capital f (plural capitals)

1. capital (city)

Noun

capital m (plural capitals)

1. capital (finance)

Derived terms

• capitalisme
• capitalista
• capitalitzar

Further reading

• “capital” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capit?lis. Doublet of cheptel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pi.tal/

Noun

capital m (plural capitaux)

1. capital (money and wealth)

Adjective

capital (feminine singular capitale, masculine plural capitaux, feminine plural capitales)

1. capital (important)

   La peine capitale est abolie en France depuis les années 1980.

Derived terms

Related terms

• capitale
• capitaliser
• capitalisme

Further reading

• “capital” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• plaçait

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capit?lis. Doublet of cabedal and caudal.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /k?.pi.?ta?/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.pi.?taw/, [k?.p?.?t?ä??]

Noun

capital f (plural capitais)

2. (geopolitics) capital; capital city (place where the seat of a government is located)
4. (figuratively) capital (the most important place associated with something)

Noun

capital m (plural capitais)

2. (finances) capital (money that can be used to acquire goods and services)
4. (figuratively) anything of prime importance

Derived terms

• capitalismo
• capitalista

Adjective

capital m or f (plural capitais, comparable)

2. capital (of prime importance)
4. (law) capital (involving punishment by death)
6. (rare, anatomy) capital (relating to the head)

Related terms

• cabeça
• cabedal
• cabo
• caput
• caudal
• per capita

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French capital, Latin capit?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pi?tal/

Noun

capital n (plural capitaluri)

1. (economics, business) capital

Declension

Adjective

capital m or n (feminine singular capital?, masculine plural capitali, feminine and neuter plural capitale)

1. capital, important

Declension

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader) chapital
• (Puter) chapitêl

Etymology

From Latin capit?lis, from caput (“head”).

Noun

capital m (plural capitals)

1. (Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) capital

Related terms

• capitala, tgapitala

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capit?lis. Doublet of caudal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kapi?tal/, [ka.pi?t?al]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

capital (plural capitales)

1. capital (important)

Derived terms

• pecado capital

Noun

capital m (plural capitales)

1. capital (finance)

Derived terms

Noun

capital f (plural capitales)

1. capital (city)

Further reading

• “capital” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd

Etymology 1

From Middle English grand, grond, graund, graunt, from Anglo-Norman graunt, from Old French grant, from Latin grandis. Doublet of grande and grandee.

Alternative forms

• grande

Adjective

grand (comparative grander or more grand, superlative grandest or most grand)

1. Of a large size or extent; great.

   a grand mountain

   a grand army

   a grand mistake

2. Great in size, and fine or imposing in appearance or impression; illustrious, dignified, magnificent.

   a grand monarch

   a grand view

   His simple vision has transformed into something far more grand.
3. Having higher rank or more dignity, size, or importance than other persons or things of the same name.

   a grand lodge

   a grand vizier

   a grand piano

   The Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire.

4. (usually in compound forms) Standing in the second or some more remote degree of parentage or descent (see grand-).

   grandfather, grandson, grand-child

5. (Ireland, Northern England, colloquial, otherwise dated) Fine; lovely.

6. (music) Containing all the parts proper to a given form of composition.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

grand (plural grands or grand)

1. (plural "grand") A thousand of some unit of currency, such as dollars or pounds. (Compare G.)

   For quotations using this term, see Citations:grand.

2. (music, plural "grands") A grand piano

Translations

Etymology 2

From granddaughter, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, etc.

Noun

grand (plural grands)

1. A grandparent or grandchild.
   • 1987, Toni Morrison, Beloved, page 269:

     Once, in Maryland, he met four families of slaves who had all been together for a hundred years: great-grands, grands, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, children.

   • 2012, Brenda Jackson, Texas Wild & Beyond Temptation, page 47:

     Her granddaughter and great-granddaughter went with us as chaperones. Did I ever tell you that she had six grands and two great-grands? […] And Emily agrees with me it's a shame that I don't even have a grand.

Further reading

• grand in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• DRAGN

Bourguignon

Etymology

From Latin grandis.

Adjective

grand (feminine grand or grande, masculine plural grands, feminine plural grands or grandes)

1. big

French

Etymology

From Middle French grand, from Old French grant, from Latin grandis, grandem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????/, (followed by vowel or h muet) /????.t?/

Adjective

grand (feminine singular grande, masculine plural grands, feminine plural grandes)

1. big, great, grand
2. tall
3. (usually capitalized) Great, an honorific title

4. great; big fat; an intensifier

5. extensive, large

Derived terms

See also

• grand-mère
• grand-père
• grand-chose

Further reading

• “grand” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Friulian

Alternative forms

• grant (standard orthography)

Adjective

grand

1. Alternative form of grant

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse grand (“injury, hurt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /krant/
• Rhymes: -ant

Noun

grand n (genitive singular grands, nominative plural grönd)

1. damage, harm, destruction
2. (card games) absence of trump cards/suits

Declension

Synonyms

• mein
• skaði
• óskundi

Related terms

• granda

Middle French

Alternative forms

• grant

Etymology

From Old French grant, from Latin grandis, grandem.

Adjective

grand m (feminine singular grande, masculine plural grands, feminine plural grandes) (comparative greigneur, superlative greigneur)

1. big; large

Descendants

• French: grand

Norman

Alternative forms

• grànd (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French grant, from Latin grandis, grandem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r??/, /?r??/
• (Jersey)

Adjective

grand m

1. (Jersey) big

Derived terms

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin grandis.

Adjective

grand m (feminine singular granda, masculine plural grands, feminine plural grandas)

1. big, large

   Antonyms: pichon, petit

Derived terms

• grandament
• grandàs
• grandesa

Further reading

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians, 2 edition, ?ISBN, page 538.

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran, Vallader) grond
• (Sutsilvan) grànd

Etymology

From Latin grandis, grandem.

Adjective

grand m (feminine singular granda, masculine plural grands, feminine plural grandas)

1. (Puter) big, large
2. (Puter) tall

Swedish

Noun

grand n

1. a mote, a speck, something very small and unimportant

Usage notes

• The form grann is used in the adverb litegrann (“a bit”), which in older texts can be written litet grand.
• Phrases like vi åt lunch på Grand, refer to a "Grand Hotel" available in several towns

Declension

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French grant, from Latin grandis, grandem.

Adjective

grand m (feminine singular grande, masculine plural grands, feminine plural grandes, feminine plural (before noun) grandès)

1. large, big