caput
/kəˈpʊt/noun
caput is spelled C-A-P-U-T: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 86,301st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “caput vs kaput” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, caput means “The head” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of caput is caputs or capita.
How many letters and syllables are in caput?
| Letters | 5: C-A-P-U-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 86,301st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is caput?
Caput appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 86,301st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce caput?
- /kəˈpʊt/
- /ˈkæp.ət/
Caput has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-caput.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with caput
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: kaput (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of caput
- caputs plural
- capita plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does caput mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The head.
- 2
A knob-like protuberance or capitulum.
- 3
The top or superior part of a thing.
- 4
UKThe council or ruling body of the University of Cambridge prior to the constitution of 1856.
- 5
colloquialEllipsis of caput succedaneum.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does caput come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin caput (“the head”). Doublet of cape, capo, chef, and chief, and distantly of head and Howth.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).