lower case
/ˈləʊ.ə(ɹ)ˌkeɪs/noun
lower case is a noun meaning “The minuscule or small letters (a, b, c, as opposed to the uppercase or capital letters, A, B, C)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled L-O-W-E-R-C-A-S-E and has 3 syllables.
What does lower case mean?
noun
- 1
The minuscule or small letters (a, b, c, as opposed to the uppercase or capital letters, A, B, C).
The strongest passwords are those which mix numbers and letters, upper case and lower case, and symbols.
adjective
- 1
Alternative spelling of lowercase.
verb
- 1
Alternative spelling of lowercase.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce lower case?
- UK /ˈləʊ.ə(ɹ)ˌkeɪs/
Lower case has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-lower_case.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of lower case
- lowercase
- lower-cases present, singular, he/she/it
- lower-casing participle, present
- lower-cased participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Words people confuse with lower case
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: lowercase (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Lower case in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense lower case / lowercase (as a collective noun) or lower case letters (in the plur:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | minuscules, bas-de-casse, bas de casse |
| German | Kleinschrift, Kleinschreibung, Kleinbuchstaben, gemeine Buchstaben, Gemeinbuchstaben |
| Portuguese | minúscules |
| Spanish | minúsculas, caja baja |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does lower case come from?
Named for the original arrangement in typesetting, where the drawer or case containing minuscule letters would traditionally be located below the one containing capital letters.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).