Word.ws English Dictionary

caput

/kəˈpʊt/

caput noun: the head. Also the ellipsis of caput succedaneum.

Noun

caput (plural caputs or capita)

  1. The head.
  2. A knob-like protuberance or capitulum.
  3. The top or superior part of a thing.
  4. (UK) The council or ruling body of the University of Cambridge prior to the constitution of 1856.
    • D. has been engaged, he tells me, through a course of laborious years, in an investigation into all curious matter connected with the two Universities; and has lately lit upon a MS. collection of charters, relative to C⁠⸺, by which he hopes to settle some disputed points—particularly that long...1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Oxford in the Vacation”, in Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey...

Also used as

caput is also the ellipsis of caput succedaneum.

Forms of caput

pluralcaputs
pluralcapita

Origin of caput

Learned borrowing from Latin caput (“the head”). Doublet of cape, capo, chef, and chief, and distantly of head and Howth.

Phrases with caput

Questions about caput

What does caput mean?
Caput means the head.
What part of speech is caput?
Caput is a noun.
How do you pronounce caput?
Caput is pronounced /kəˈpʊt/.
What is the plural of caput?
The plural of caput is caputs.

Words near caput in the dictionary

  1. capuls
  2. capuramycin
  3. capuramycins
  4. capuride
  5. Capuseran
  6. caput
  7. caput mortuum
  8. caput succedaneum
  9. caputegulae
  10. caputegulum
  11. Caputo

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caput (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-caput.wav.

Cite this entry: “caput.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caput. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.