capital etymology

English word capital comes from Latin caput, Latin -alis, and later Latin capitalis (Deadly, mortal. Excellent. Head or life (attributive).)

Detailed word origin of capital

Dictionary entryLanguageDefinition
caput Latin (lat) (New Latin, anatomy) headlike protuberance on an organ or body part, usually bone, for instance caput ulnae. (New Latin, medicine) a disease; a severe swelling of the soft tissues of a newborn's scalp that develops as the baby travels through the birth canal. (figuratively) life. (figuratively) the vital part. (in writings) division, section, paragraph, chapter. (of a river) origin, source, [...]
-alis Latin (lat) Used to form adjectives of relationship from nouns or numerals.
capitalis Latin (lat) Deadly, mortal. Excellent. Head or life (attributive).
capital Middle English (1100-1500) (enm)
capital English (eng) (comparable, British, dated) Excellent.. Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation.. Involving punishment by death.. Of or relating to the head.. Of prime importance.. Uppercase. (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 [...]

Words with the same origin as capital

Descendants of caput
caddy cadet cap cape capitalism chaplain chef chief handkerchief
Descendants of -alis
actor animal card central channel chatter corner criminal funeral general hospital hotel legal master mental natural personal real royal social states total trial usual