Capitalization of Wiktionary pages

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, the automatic capitalization has been turned off since 2006 for all Wiktionaries.

The following Wiktionaries differentiate capitalized words with non capitalized words in page titles:

af (Afrikaans) als (Alemanic) ar (Arabic) ast (Asturian) br (Breton) cs (Czech) de (German) dsb (Lower Sorbian) en (English) eo (Esperanto) es (Spanish) fa (Persian) fi (Finnish) fo (Feroese) fr (French)

ga (Irish) gu (Gujarati) hi (Hindi) hr (Croatian) hsb (Upper Sorbian) hu (Hungarian) hy (Armenian) is (Icelandic) it (Italian) ja (Japanese) ka (Georgian) kn (Kannada) ku (Kurdish) mk (Macedonian) ml (Malayalam)

mr (Marathi) nl (Dutch) no (Norwegian) pl (Polish) ru (Russian) sa (Sanskrit) scn (Sicilian) sq (Albanian) sv (Swedish) sw (Kiswahili) te (Telugu) tr (Turkish) ur (Urdu) vi (Vietnamese) zh (Chinese)

Languages without capitalization

Languages which do not have capital letters in their usual script:

ka (modern Georgian: Mkedruli-only) he (Hebrew) ar (Arabic) fa (Persian) ha (Haussa) 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)

Languages with capitalization

Languages which have capital letters:

Capitalization of language names

Languages which 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 — n.b. "lingua" is not part of the language name, but is essentially like the Wikipedia disambiguating convention: "Spanish language" = "lingua Hispanica") li (Limburgish) nl (Dutch) 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 which do not capitalize language names:

ast (Asturian) be (Belarusian) bg (Bulgarian) bs (Bosnian) br (Breton) ca (Catalan) cs (Czech) da (Danish) dsb (Lower Sorbian) eo (Esperanto) (Some users capitalize language names which are standalone nouns, such as eo:Sanskrito vs. eo:angla lingvo; some other users capitalize only eo:Esperanto, on the basis that it is derived from a en:anthroponym / en:pseudonym)

et (Estonian) fi (Finnish) fr (French) hr (Croatian) hsb (Upper Sorbian) hu (Hungarian) hy (Armenian) is (Icelandic) it (Italian) lt (Lithuanian) lv (Latvian) mk (Macedonian) no (Norwegian) applies to both standards of Norwegian: bokmål and nynorsk.

pl (Polish) pt (Portuguese) ro (Romanian) ru (Russian) sr (Serbian) es (Spanish) sv (Swedish) tg (Tajiki) uk (Ukrainian) uz (Uzbek) wa (Walloon)

Capitalization of names of peoples

Languages which always capitalize names of peoples, either as nouns or as adjectives (e.g. the Germans = the German people)

br (Breton) cs (Czech) cy (Welsh) dsb (Lower Sorbian)

nl (Dutch) en (English) ga (Irish) hsb (Upper Sorbian)

id (Indonesian) la (Latin) sk (Slovak) vi (Vietnamese) — "dân Anh", "người Anh"

Languages which 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]) 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), similar to the Bosnian system of capitalization li (Limburgish) ksh (Kölsch (Ripuarian))

lb (Lŭemburgian) mk (Macedonian) — as in Англичани [the English], but not in англиски народ [the english people] nds (low German) pl (Polish) — Anglik (Englishman), but angielski naród (the English nation) pfl (Palatinian) sr (Serbian) — as in Englezi [the English'], but not in engleski narod [the english people]

Languages which do not capitalize names of peoples

ast (Asturian) bg (Bulgarian) ca (Catalan) da (Danish) eo (Esperanto) fi (Finnish) hu (Hungarian)

hy (Armenian) it (Italian) lt (Lithuanian) lv (Latvian) no (Norwegian) applies to both standards of Norwegian: bokmål and nynorsk. os (Ossetian)

pt (Portuguese) ro (Romanian) ru (Russian) sv (Swedish) es (Spanish) uz (Uzbek)

To be classified:

eu (Basque) ms (Malay)

mdf (Moksha) nap (Napolitan) oc (Occitan)

tt (Tatar) vec (Venetian) vls (West Flemish)

Capitalization of month names

Languages which 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) pt (Standard Portuguese) — Months are capitalized in Portugal, but not in Brazil. ve (Venda) xh (Xhosa) zu (Zulu)

Languages which do not capitalize month names

ast (Asturian) - month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something 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) fi (Finnish) fr (French)

hr (Croatian) hsb (Upper Sorbian) hu (Hungarian) hy (Armenian) is (Icelandic) it (Italian) li (Limburgish) lv (Latvian) lt (Lithuanian) mk (Macedonian) - month names are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something no (Norwegian) applies to both standards of Norwegian: bokmål and nynorsk. nl (Dutch) pl (Polish)

pt-BR (Brazilian Portuguese) — Months are capitalized in Portugal, but not in Brazil. ro (Romanian) ru (Russian) os (Ossetian) 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) vi (Vietnamese) — typically lowercase these days, but may be capitalized wa (Walloon)

Capitalization of day names

Languages which 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.) ve (Venda) xh (Xhosa) zu (Zulu)

Languages which 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)

fi (Finnish) fr (French) hsb (Upper Sorbian) hu (Hungarian) hy (Armenian) it (Italian) li (Limburgish) lt (Lithuanian) lv (Latvian) mk (Macedonian) nl (Dutch) no (Norwegian) applies to both standards of Norwegian: bokmål and nynorsk.

os (Ossetian) pl (Polish) pt (Portuguese) ro (Romanian) ru (Russian) sk (Slovak) sr (Serbian) - days of the week are not capitalized, unless considered as titles of something es (Spanish) sv (Swedish) vi (Vietnamese) – usually lowercase these days, but may be capitalized uz (Uzbek) wa (Walloon)