View source for Small caps

{{Short description|Lowercase letters as small capitals}}
{{Other uses|Small cap (disambiguation){{!}}Small cap}}
{{pp-protected|small=yes}}
[[File:Small caps vs petite caps.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Small caps, petite caps and [[Italic type|italic]] used for [[Emphasis (typography)|emphasis]]]]
[[File:True vs Scaled Small Caps.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|True small caps (top), compared with scaled small caps (bottom), generated by [[OpenOffice.org Writer]]]]
In [[typography]], '''small caps''' (short for '''small capitals''') are [[grapheme|character]]s typeset with [[glyph]]s that resemble [[uppercase]] letters but reduced in height and weight close to the surrounding [[lowercase]] letters or [[text figures]].<ref name="Smith JPHS">{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Margaret M. |year=1993 |title=The Pre-history of 'Small caps': from all caps to smaller capitals to small caps |url=https://works.hcommons.org/records/f1wzt-01t73 |journal=Journal of the Printing Historical Society |volume=22 |issue=79–106}}</ref> Small caps are used in running text as a form of emphasis that is less dominant than all uppercase text, and as a method of emphasis or distinctiveness for text alongside or instead of [[italics]], or when [[boldface]] is inappropriate. For example, the text "Text in small caps" appears as {{Smallcaps|Text in small caps}} in small caps. Small caps can be used to draw attention to the opening phrase or line of a new section of text, or to provide an additional style in a dictionary entry where many parts must be typographically differentiated.

Well-designed small capitals are not simply scaled-down versions of normal capitals; they normally retain the same stroke weight as other letters and have a wider [[Aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]] for readability.

{{anchor|petite caps}}
Typically, the height of a small capital glyph will be one [[x-height|ex]], the same height as most [[lowercase]] characters in the font. In fonts with relatively low x-height, however, small caps may be somewhat larger than this. For example, in some Tiro Typeworks fonts, small caps glyphs are 30% larger than x-height, and 70% the height of full capitals. To differentiate between these two alternatives, the x-height form is sometimes called '''petite caps''',<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-11-19 |title=OpenType Layout tag registry |url=http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/features_pt.htm#pcap |access-date=2014-05-15 |publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> preserving the name "small caps" for the larger variant.
[[OpenType]] fonts can define both forms via the "small caps" and the "petite caps" features. When the support for the petite caps feature is absent from a [[desktop publishing]] program, x-height small caps are often substituted.

Many [[word processor]]s and [[text formatting]] systems include an option to format [[Character (computer)|text]] in caps and small caps, which leaves uppercase letters as they are, but converts [[lowercase]] letters to small caps. How this is implemented depends on the typesetting system; some can use true small caps glyphs that are included in modern professional [[typeface]]s; but less complex [[computer font]]s do not have small-caps glyphs, so the typesetting system simply reduces the uppercase letters by a fraction (often 1.5 to 2 points less than the base scale). However, this will make the characters look somewhat out of proportion. A work-around to simulate real small capitals is to use a bolder version of the small caps generated by such systems, to match well with the normal [[Font#Weight|weights]] of capitals and lowercase, especially when such small caps are extended about 5% or letter-spaced a half point or a point.<!-- This stuff about specific point increases depends directly on the size of type being worked with. Letterspacing half a point for 150-point characters is much different from doing it for 5-point characters. -->

== Uses ==
Small caps are often used in sections of text that are unremarkable and thus a run of uppercase capital letters might imply an emphasis that is not intended. For example, the style of some publications, like ''[[The New Yorker]]'' and ''[[The Economist]]'', is to use small caps for [[acronym]]s and [[initialism]]s longer than three letters<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wright |first=Robin |date=July 26, 2020 |title=What Does NATO Do, Anyway? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-does-nato-do-anyway |access-date=November 20, 2020 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Sorkin |first=Amy |date=June 12, 2020 |title=What the W.H.O. Meant to Say About Asymptomatic People Spreading the Coronavirus |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-the-who-meant-to-say-about-asymptomatic-people-spreading-the-coronavirus |access-date=November 20, 2020 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref>—thus "U.S." and "W.H.O." in normal caps but "{{Smallcaps|nato}}" in small caps.

The initialisms [[Anno Domini|{{Smallcaps|ad}}]], [[Common Era|{{Smallcaps|ce}}]], [[ante meridiem|{{Smallcaps|am}}]], and [[post meridiem|{{Smallcaps|pm}}]] are sometimes typeset in small caps.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Trask |first1=Larry |title=Small Capitals |url=https://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/misc/small |website=University of Sussex Informatics |publisher=The University of Sussex |access-date=30 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=9.39: Numerals versus words for time of da |url=https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed18/part2/ch09/psec039.html |website=The Chicago Manual of Style Online |publisher=The University of Chicago |access-date=30 October 2024}}</ref>


In printed plays small caps are used for [[stage directions]] and the names of characters before their lines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Detken |first=Anke |date=2018 |title=Kursiv Geschriebenes und Kapitälchen: Typologische Überlegungen zu Regiebemerkungen und Sprecherbezeichnungen in postdramatischen Theatertexten |journal=Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik |language=de |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=522–523 |doi=10.1007/s41244-018-0102-x |issn=0049-8653}}</ref> 

Some publications use small caps to indicate surnames. An elementary example is [[Don Quixote|Don {{Smallcaps|Quixote}} de La Mancha]]. In the 21st century, the practice is gaining traction in scientific publications.<ref>{{cite web |title=15.144: An index with authors, titles, and first lines combined |url=https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed18/part3/ch15/psec144.html |website=The Chicago Manual of Style Online |publisher=The University of Chicago |access-date=30 October 2024}}</ref>

In many versions of the [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]], the word "{{Smallcaps|Lord}}" is set in small caps.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary |publisher=Holman Bible Publishers |year=2003 |isbn=0-8054-2836-4 |location=Nashville, TN |page=1046}}</ref> Typically, an ordinary "Lord" corresponds to the use of the word ''[[Adonai]]'' in the original Hebrew, but the small caps "{{Smallcaps|Lord}}" corresponds to the use of ''[[Yahweh]]'' in the original; in some versions the compound "Lord {{Smallcaps|God}}" represents the Hebrew compound ''Adonai Yahweh''.

In zoological and botanical nomenclature, the small caps are occasionally used for [[genera]] and families.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=S. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G52PDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |title=Vascular Plants of Texas: A Comprehensive Checklist Including Synonymy, Bibliography, and Index |last2=Wipff |first2=J. K. |last3=Montgomery |first3=P. M. |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-292-72962-9 |page=5 |access-date=2024-03-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Allen |first1=J.A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aLhMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA208 |title=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |last2=American Museum of Natural History |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |year=1892 |page=208 |access-date=2024-03-25 |issue=v. 4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7K9ZeHNih8C&pg=PA896 |title=Family-group Names in Coleoptera (Insecta) |last2=Bousquet |first2=Y. |last3=Davies |first3=A.E. |last4=Alonso-Zarazaga |first4=M. A. |last5=Lawrence |first5=J. F. |last6=Lyal |first6=C. H. C. |last7=Newton |first7=A. F. |last8=Reid |first8=C. A. M. |last9=Schmitt |first9=M. |publisher=Pensoft |year=2011 |isbn=978-954-642-583-6 |series=ZooKeys |page=896 |access-date=2024-03-25 |last10=Slipinski |first10=S. A.}}</ref>   

In [[computational complexity theory]], a sub-field of [[computer science]], the formal names of algorithmic problems, e.g. MᴀxSAT, are sometimes set in small caps.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bourke |first=Chris |date=April 12, 2007 |title=User's Guide for complexity: a LATEX package, Version 0.80 |url=http://cse.unl.edu/~cbourke/latex/complexity.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504231437/http://cse.unl.edu/~cbourke/latex/complexity.pdf |archive-date=May 4, 2020 |access-date=May 6, 2021}}</ref>

[[Linguists]] use small caps to analyze the [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and tag ([[List of glossing abbreviations|gloss]]) the [[parts of speech]] in a sentence; e.g.,
{{interlinear|indent=3
|She love-s you.
|3SG.F.NOM love-3SG.PRS.IND 2|}}

Linguists also use small caps to refer to the keywords in [[lexical set]]s for particular languages or dialects; e.g. the {{Smallcaps|fleece}} and {{Smallcaps|trap}} vowels in English.

''The [[Bluebook]]'' prescribes small caps for some titles and names in United States legal citations.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.legalbluebook.com |title=The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation |publisher=Columbia Law Review Ass'n et al. |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-692-40019-7 |edition=20th |pages=149}}</ref> The practice precedes [[World War I]], with [[Harvard Law Review]] using it while referring to itself. By 1915, small caps were used for all titles of journals and books.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cooper |first=Byron D. |year=1982 |title=Anglo-American Legal Citation: Historical Development and Library Implications |url=https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/1745/ |journal=Law Library Journal |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=1745– |access-date=2024-03-19}}</ref>

In many books, mention of another part of the same book or mentions the work as a whole will be set in small caps. For example, articles in ''The [[World Book Encyclopedia]]'' refer to the encyclopedia as a whole and to the encyclopedia's other articles in small caps, as in the "Insurance" article's direction, at one point, to "See {{Smallcaps|No-Fault Insurance}}", "No-Fault Insurance" being another of the encyclopedia's articles.

Among [[Romance languages]], as an orthographic tradition, only the [[French language|French]] and [[Spanish language]]s render [[Roman numerals]] in small caps to denote centuries, e.g. {{lang|fr|{{Smallcaps|xviii}}{{sup|e}} siècle}} and {{lang|es|siglo {{Smallcaps|xviii}}}} for "18th century"; the numerals are cardinally postpositive in Spanish alone.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lexique des règles typographiques en usage à l'imprimerie nationale |date=March 2011 |publisher=[[Imprimerie nationale]] |isbn=978-2-7433-0482-9 |edition=6th |location=Paris |pages=126 |language=fr |quote=On composera en chiffres romains petites capitales les nombres concernant : ↲ 1. Les siècles.}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |publisher=[[Royal Spanish Academy]] (RAE) |year=1999 |dictionary=Diccionario panhispánico de dudas |title=Uso de los números romanos}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:F16-0050 (33360746031).jpg|thumb|Small caps used by [[Johann Froben]] in the 1516 ''{{lang|la|[[Novum Instrumentum omne|Novum instrumentum]]}}'']]
Research by Margaret M. Smith concluded that the use of small caps was probably popularised by [[Johann Froben]] in the early 16th century, who used them extensively from 1516.<ref name="Smith JPHS" /> Froben may have been influenced by [[Aldus Manutius]], who used very small capitals with printing [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and at the start of lines of italic, copying a style common in manuscripts at the time, and sometimes used these capitals to set headings in his printing; as a result these headings were in all caps, but in capitals from a smaller font than the body text type.<ref name="Smith JPHS" /> The idea caught on in France, where small capitals were used by [[Simon de Colines]], [[Robert Estienne]] and [[Claude Garamond]].<ref name="Smith JPHS" /><ref name="Carter Ampersand 9.3" /><ref name="Vervliet Palaeotypography">{{Cite book |last=Vervliet |first=Hendrik D. L. |author-link=H. D. L. Vervliet |title=The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: selected papers on sixteenth-century typefaces |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-041-6982-1 |location=Leiden |pages=36, 47, 52, 71, 75, 79, 202}}</ref> [[Johannes Philippus de Lignamine]] used small caps in the 1470s, but apparently was not copied at the time.<ref name="Smith JPHS" /><ref name="Carter Smith BPHS Letters">{{Cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Matthew |last2=Smith |first2=Margaret M. |title=Letters |journal=Bulletin of the Printing Historical Society}}</ref><ref name="Carter Ampersand 9.3">{{Cite journal |last=Carter |first=Matthew |year=1989 |title=Letters to the Editor |journal=The Ampersand |volume=9 |issue=3 |page=2}}</ref>

Small capitals are not found in all font designs, as traditionally in printing they were primarily used within the [[body text]] of books and so are often not found in fonts that are not intended for this purpose, such as [[sans-serif]] types which historically were not preferred for book printing.<ref name="The Evolution of Metro and its Reimagination as Metro Nova">{{Cite web |last=Shaw |first=Paul |title=The Evolution of Metro and its Reimagination as Metro Nova |url=http://typographica.org/on-typography/the-evolution-of-metro-its-reimagination-as-metro-nova/ |access-date=21 December 2016 |website=Typographica}}</ref> ''Fonts in Use'' reports that [[:de:Gert Wunderlich (Typograf)|Gert Wunderlich]]'s Maxima (1970), for [[Typoart]], was "maybe the first sans serif to feature small caps and optional [[oldstyle numerals]] across all weights."<ref name="FIU Maxima">{{Cite web |title=Maxima |url=https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/1843/maxima |access-date=6 October 2020 |website=Fonts in Use}}</ref> (Some caps-only typefaces intended for printing stationery, for instance [[Copperplate Gothic]] and [[Bank Gothic]], were intended to be used with smaller sizes serving as small capitals, and had no lower case as a result.<ref name="McGrew">{{Cite book |last=McGrew |first=Mac |title=American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century |year=1993 |publisher=Oak Knoll |isbn=0-938-76834-4 |edition=2nd |pages=22–23, 258–259}}</ref><ref name="ATF 1923">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/1923AmericanTypeFoundersSpecimenBookCatalogue |title=Specimen Book and Catalogue |year=1923 |publisher=[[American Type Founders]] |location=Jersey City, NJ |pages=334–349, 389–396 |access-date=8 October 2020}}</ref>)

Italic small capitals were historically rarer than roman small caps. Some digital font families, sometimes digitisations of older metal type designs, still only have small caps in roman style and do not have small caps in bold or italic styles.<ref name="Design Dialogues">{{Cite web |last=Heller |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Heller (design writer) |title=Jonathan Hoefler on type design |url=http://www.hellerbooks.com/docs/interviews_dialogues.html |access-date=2 August 2016 |website=Design Dialogues}}</ref><ref name="Gilbertson Small caps">{{Cite web |last=Gilbertson |first=Alan |date=21 May 2015 |title=The Incredible Shrinking Italic Small Caps |url=https://indesignsecrets.com/the-incredible-shrinking-italic-small-caps.php |access-date=21 September 2020 |website=InDesign Secrets}}</ref> This is again because small caps were normally only used in [[body text]] and cutting bold and italic small caps was thought unnecessary. An isolated early appearance was in the [[Joh. Enschedé|Enschedé]] type foundry specimen of 1768, which featured a set cut by [[Joan Michaël Fleischman]],<ref name="Enschedé specimen reprint">{{Cite book |last1=Enschedé |first1=Johannes |title=The Enschedé type specimens of 1768 and 1773: a facsimile |last2=Lane |first2=John A. |author-link2=John A. Lane |year=1993 |publisher=Stichting Museum Enschedé, the Enschedé Font Foundry, Uitgeverij De Buitenkant |isbn=9-070-38658-5 |page=63}}</ref><ref name="Enschedé 1768 specimen">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ww1NAAAAcAAJ |title=Proef van letteren, welke gegooten worden in de nieuwe Haerlemsche Lettergietery van J. Enschedé |year=1768 |publisher=J. Enschedé |location=Haarlem |access-date=3 June 2020|language=nl}}</ref> and in 1837 Thomas Adams commented that in the United States "small capitals are in general only cast to roman fonts" but that "some founders in England cast italic small capitals to most, if not the whole of their fonts."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Thomas F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ME9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA67 |title=Typographia: A Brief Sketch of the Origin, Rise, and Progress of the Typographic Art: with Practical Directions for Conducting Every Department in an Office |year=1837 |location=Philadelphia |access-date=19 October 2023}}</ref>{{efn|Spelling and capitalisation modernised.}} (Bold type did not appear until the nineteenth century.) In 1956, [[Hugh Williamson (book designer)|Hugh Williamson]]'s textbook ''Methods of Book Design'' noted that "one of the most conspicuous defects" of contemporary book faces was that they did not generally feature italic small capitals: "these would certainly be widely used if they were generally available".<ref name="Methods of Book Design" /> Exceptions available at the time were Linotype's [[Eric Gill|Pilgrim]], [[Janson]] and their release of [[Monotype Garamond]], and from Monotype [[Jan van Krimpen|Romulus]].<ref name="Methods of Book Design">{{Cite book |last=Williamson |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Williamson (book designer) |title=Methods of Book Design |date=1956 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |pages=75–104}}</ref> More have appeared in the digital period, such as in [[Hoefler Text]] and [[FF Scala]].<ref name="Design Dialogues" /><ref name="Hoefler Text Grand Italics">{{Cite web |last=Hoefler |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Hoefler |title=Hoefler Text Font Features: Grand Italics |url=https://www.typography.com/fonts/hoefler-text/features/hoefler-text-grand-italics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415181354/https://www.typography.com/fonts/hoefler-text/features/hoefler-text-grand-italics |archive-date=15 April 2019 |access-date=15 April 2019 |publisher=Hoefler}}</ref><ref name="Majoor Scala">{{Cite book |last=Majoor |first=Martin |url=https://www.martinmajoor.com/1.1_scala_article_majoor.html |title=FontFont Focus No.1 |year=2000 |publisher=FontShop |access-date=20 September 2020}}</ref>

==Computer support==
===Fonts===
The [[OpenType]] font standard provides support for transformations from normal letters to small caps by two feature tags, <code>smcp</code> and <code>c2sc</code>.<ref name="ms_tag_rgstry">{{Cite web |date=2017-01-04 |title="Microsoft OpenType Layout tag registry" |url=http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/features_pt.htm |access-date=2017-07-29 |publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> A font may use the tag <code>smcp</code> to indicate how to transform lower-case letters to small caps, and the tag <code>c2sc</code> to indicate how to transform upper-case letters to small caps. OpenType provides support for transformations from normal letters to petite caps by two feature tags, <code>pcap</code> and <code>c2pc</code>.<ref name="ms_tag_rgstry_2">{{Cite web |date=2008-10-08 |title="Microsoft OpenType Layout tag registry" |url=http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/features_ae.htm |access-date=2014-05-15 |publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> A font may use the tag <code>pcap</code> to indicate how to transform lower-case letters to petite caps, and the tag <code>c2pc</code> to indicate how to transform upper-case letters to petite caps.

[[Desktop publishing]] applications, as well as web browsers, can use these features to display petite caps. However, only a few currently do so.<ref name="typotheque">{{Cite web |title=OpenType feature support" |url=http://www.typotheque.com/fonts/opentype_feature_support |access-date=2014-05-15 |publisher="Typotheque}}</ref> LibreOffice can use the {{code|1=fontname:pcap=1}} method.

===Word processors===
Professional desktop publishing applications supporting genuine small caps include Quark XPress, and Adobe Creative Suite applications.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What's OpenType? |url=http://www.typography.com/techniques/opentype/ |access-date=11 August 2014 |publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones}}</ref>

Most word processing applications, including [[Microsoft Word]] and [[Apple Pages|Pages]], do not automatically substitute true small caps when working with OpenType fonts that include them, instead generating scaled ones. For these applications it is therefore easier to work with fonts that have true small caps as a completely separate style, similar to bold or italic. Few free and open-source fonts have this feature; an exception is Georg Duffner's [[EB Garamond]], in open beta.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Duffner |first=Georg |title=Design of EB Garamond |url=http://www.georgduffner.at/ebgaramond/design.html |access-date=11 August 2014}}</ref> [[LibreOffice Writer]] started allowing true small caps for OpenType fonts since version 5.3, they can be enabled via a syntax used in the Font Name input box, including font name, a colon, feature tag, an equals sign and feature value, for example, <code>EB Garamond 12:smcp=1</code>,<ref name="LO5.3">{{Cite web |title=Release Notes 5.3 |url=http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/5.3 |access-date=29 December 2016 |publisher=The Document Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 November 2016 |title=Opentype features now enabled? Documentation? |url=https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/82052/opentype-features-now-enabled-documentation/ |access-date=29 December 2016 |publisher=Ask LibreOffice}}</ref> and version 6.2 added a dialog to switch.<ref name="lo6.2">{{Cite web |title=ReleaseNotes/6.2 |url=https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/6.2 |access-date=26 February 2019 |website=Wiki |publisher=The Document Foundation}}</ref>

===Unicode<span class="anchor" id="Unicode"></span>===
{{Contains special characters|Uncommon Unicode|section}}

In orthography, small caps are [[allograph]]s of capital letters. [[Unicode]] defines a number of small-capital (or, more accurately, petite-capital) characters for specialized use such as [[phonetic notation]]. They are deprecated as substitutes for small-cap formatting; rather, the basic character set should be used with suitable formatting controls as described in the preceding sections. Normal text set with these characters suffers from a number of deficiencies: Some letters, including the standard English letter [[X]], have no corresponding "small capital" character; hard-coded small caps are not generally intelligible to the [[screen reader]]s used by blind people; nor, typically, is text set using these characters recognized by general-purpose translation or text-searching tools.

The Unicode petite-capital characters are found in the [[IPA extensions (Unicode block)|IPA extensions]], [[Phonetic Extensions]], [[Latin Extended-D]] and other blocks. These characters are intended for use in notation where they are semantically distinct – that is, for cases where they are not allographs. For example, petite capital {{angle bracket|ʀ}} represents a [[uvular trill]] in IPA, and {{angle bracket|ɢ}} a [[voiced uvular plosive]]; capital {{angle bracket|R}} and {{angle bracket|G}} have no defined meaning in IPA, but are commonly used as wildcards for '[[Sonorant|resonant]]' and '[[Semivowel|glide]]'. Thus using formatting to replicate {{angle bracket|ʀ}} would not be appropriate in phonetic notation, because if the formatting were lost, data would be lost and the text would change in meaning.

[[File:Superscript small cap W.png|thumb|A small-cap ''W'' may be distinct from a lowercase ''w'' in italic typeface, as in this obsolete Americanist phonetic notation.]]

The petite-capital characters defined by Unicode for letters of the basic Latin alphabet are as follows. 
Shaded cells mark petite capitals that are not very distinct from minuscules in roman typeface, but they may be distinct in italic typeface, as is used in some phonetic notation.

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center;
|-
! ||A||B||C||D||E||F||G||H||I||J||K||L||M||N||O||P||Q||R||S||T||U||V||W||X||Y||Z
|-
| baseline||ᴀ||ʙ||ᴄ||ᴅ||ᴇ||ꜰ||ɢ||ʜ||ɪ||ᴊ||ᴋ||ʟ||ᴍ||ɴ||ᴏ||ᴘ||ꞯ||ʀ||ꜱ||ᴛ||ᴜ||ᴠ||ᴡ||{{no|–}}||ʏ||ᴢ
|-
| superscript|| {{yes|*}} ||𐞄
!
| {{yes|*}} || {{yes|*}} || {{no|–}}||𐞒||𐞖||ᶦ|| {{no|–}}|| {{no|–}}||ᶫ|| {{no|–}}||ᶰ
!
| {{yes|*}} || {{no|–}}||𐞪
!
| {{no|–}}||ᶸ
! || || 
|𐞲
!
|-
| overscript** || || 
!
|| || || ||◌ᷛ|| || || || ||◌ᷞ||◌ᷟ||◌ᷡ
!
|| || ||◌ᷢ
!
|| || 
! || ||
||
!
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Superscript versions of petite-capital '''ᴀ''', '''ᴅ''', '''ᴇ''' and '''ᴘ''' have been provisionally assigned for inclusion in a future version of the Unicode Standard.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Additional draft repertoire for provisionally assigned code points for Unicode |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24268-n5291-post-17-chart.pdf|publisher=[[Unicode Consortium]]|date= 2024-11-26}}</ref>

<nowiki>**</nowiki> Although the overscript (combining superscript) characters are identified as 'small capitals' in Unicode, there are no corresponding capital overscript characters that they contrast with.

Additionally, a few less-common Latin characters, several [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] characters, and a single [[Cyrillic]] character used in Latin-based phonetic notation also have petite capitals encoded:

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
| colspan="26" |Extended Latin{{efn|Two of the petite capitals, ʁ and ꭆ, have no corresponding capital letter in Unicode. Two of the superscript petite capitals, 𐞀 and ꟸ, have no corresponding baseline petite capitals in Unicode.}}
|-
! ||{{not a typo|Ꜳ}}||Æ||(Ƀ)||Ð||Ǝ||Ɠ||ᵷ (⅁)
! Ħ||Ɨ||Ʞ||Ł||Ɬ||ŋ (И)||Œ||Ɔ||Ȣ||(Я)||ɹ (ꓤ)||{{no|–}}||{{no|–}}||ꝵ||Ʉ||Ɯ||Ʒ
|-
| baseline||{{no|–}}||ᴁ||ᴃ||ᴆ||ⱻ||ʛ||𝼂
| {{no|–}}||ᵻ||𝼐||ᴌ||𝼄||ᴎ||ɶ||ᴐ||ᴕ||ᴙ||ᴚ||ʁ||ꭆ||ꝶ||ᵾ||ꟺ||ᴣ
|-
| superscript||𐞀|| || || || ||𐞔|| 
|ꟸ||ᶧ|| || ||𐞜|| ||𐞣|| || || || ||ʶ|| || || || ||
|}

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
| colspan="12" |Greek{{efn|Supported letters, plus those that cannot be substituted with Latin.}}
|-
! ||Γ||Δ||Θ||Λ||Ξ||Π||Ρ||Σ||Φ||Ψ||Ω
|-
| baseline||ᴦ||{{no|–}}||{{no|–}}||ᴧ||{{no|–}}||ᴨ||ᴩ||{{no|–}}||{{no|–}}||ᴪ||ꭥ
|}

[[File:UPA sc and lc Cyrillic L.svg|thumb|upright|The UPA small-cap ''ᴫ'' (left) and lower-case ''л'' (right) are distinct in italic typeface, which is how the UPA is typeset.]]

There is little call for small caps in Cyrillic, as there would be little graphic difference between small caps and lowercase. However, Unicode does provide for one small cap Cyrillic letter for use in the [[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]] (UPA), where small caps and lowercase are distinct in italic typeface

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
| colspan="2" |Cyrillic{{efn|The petite-capital Cyrillic letter may be indistinguishable from the lowercase in roman font. However, it is distinct in its italic form, which is how it is normally typeset in phonetic notation.}}
|-
! || Л
|-
| baseline|| ''ᴫ''
|}

==== Labels<span class="anchor" id="In Unicode standards"></span> ====
The [[Unicode Consortium]] has a typographical convention of using small caps for its formal names for symbols, in running text. For example, the name of {{unichar|0416|name=none}} is conventionally shown as {{smallcaps all|CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ZHE}}.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode15.0.0/ |title=The Unicode Standard 15.0.0 |date=13 September 2022 |publisher=The Unicode Consortium |page=968 |chapter=Appendix A, Notational Conventions |chapter-url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode15.0.0/appA.pdf}}</ref>

=== CSS ===
Small caps can be specified in the style sheet language [[CSS]] using {{code|font-variant: small-caps|CSS}}. For example,
{|class=wikitable
|+Basic small caps (CSS2)
|-
! style=width:55% | Code !! Render
|-
|{{code|lang=html|code=<span style="font-variant: small-caps">Jane Doe</span>}}
|<span style="font-family:'Libertinus Serif','Linux Libertine','Linux Libertine G','Georgia Pro',Georgia,Times,serif;font-variant: small-caps">Jane Doe</span>
|-
|{{code|lang=html|code=<span style="font-variant: small-caps">AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz</span>}}
|<span style="font-family:'Libertinus Serif','Linux Libertine','Linux Libertine G','Georgia Pro',Georgia,Times,serif;font-variant: small-caps">AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz</span>
|}

Since CSS styles the text, and no actual case transformation is applied, readers are still able to copy the normally-capitalized plain text from the web page as rendered by a browser.

[[CSS3]] can specify OpenType small caps (given the <code>smcp</code> feature in the font replaces glyphs with proper small caps glyphs) by using <syntaxhighlight lang=css inline>font-variant-caps: small-caps</syntaxhighlight>, which is the recommended way, or <syntaxhighlight lang=css inline>font-feature-settings: 'smcp'</syntaxhighlight>, which is the most widely used method {{as of|May 2014|lc=yes}}. For the latter case, if the font does not have small-cap glyphs, lowercase letters are displayed.
{|class=wikitable
|+Small caps (CSS3)
|-
! style=width:55% | Code !! Render
|-
|{{code|lang=html|code=<span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps">Jane Doe</span>}}<br>technically identical to {{code|lang=css|font-variant: small-caps}}
|<span style="font-family:'Libertinus Serif','Linux Libertine','Linux Libertine G','Georgia Pro',Georgia,Times,serif;font-variant-caps: small-caps">Jane Doe</span>
|-
|{{code|lang=html|code=<span style="font-feature-settings: 'smcp'">AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz</span>}}
|<span style="font-family:'Libertinus Serif','Linux Libertine','Linux Libertine G','Georgia Pro',Georgia,Times,serif;font-feature-settings: 'smcp'">AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz</span>
|}

{{As of|June 2023}}, CSS3 can specify petite caps by using <syntaxhighlight lang=css inline>font-variant: petite-caps</syntaxhighlight><ref name="CSSFontLevel3">{{Cite web |date=2018-09-20 |title="W3C Recommendation: CSS Fonts Module Level 3" |url=https://www.w3.org/TR/2018/REC-css-fonts-3-20180920/#font-variant-caps-prop |access-date=2023-06-09 |publisher=W3.org}}</ref> or <syntaxhighlight lang=css inline>font-feature-settings: 'pcap'</syntaxhighlight>. For the latter case, if the font does not have petite cap glyphs, lowercase letters are displayed. For the first case, small caps are substituted.
{|class=wikitable
|+Petite caps (CSS3)
|-
! style=width:55% | Code !! Render
|-
|{{code|lang=html|code=<span style="font-variant-caps: petite-caps">Jane Doe</span>}}<br>technically identical to {{code|lang=css|font-variant: petite-caps}}
|<span style="font-family:'Libertinus Serif','Linux Libertine','Linux Libertine G','Georgia Pro',Georgia,Times,serif;font-variant-caps: petite-caps">Jane Doe</span>
|-
|{{code|lang=html|code=<span style="font-feature-settings: 'pcap'">AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz</span>}}
|<span style="font-family:'Libertinus Serif','Linux Libertine','Linux Libertine G','Georgia Pro',Georgia,Times,serif;font-feature-settings: 'pcap'">AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz</span>
|}

== See also ==

* {{Annotated link |All caps}}
* {{Annotated link |Alphabet 26}}
* {{Annotated link |CamelCase}}
* {{Annotated link |Mixed case}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|last=Bringhurst|first=Robert|title=The Elements of Typographic Style|year=2004|publisher=Hartley & Marks|isbn=978-0-881-79205-8|edition=3rd|location=Point Roberts, WA}}
{{Refend}}

{{Typography terms}}

[[Category:Typesetting]]
[[Category:Typography]]
[[Category:Capitalization]]