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Wikipedia avoids unnecessarycapitalization. InEnglish, capitalization is primarily needed forproper names,acronyms, and for the first letter of a sentence.[a] Wikipedia relies on sources to determine what is conventionally capitalized; only words and phrases that areconsistently capitalized in a substantial majority of independent, reliable sources are capitalized in Wikipedia.There are exceptions for specific cases discussed below.
Initial capitals or all capitals should not be used for emphasis. If wording alone cannot provide the required emphasis, the<em>...</em> HTML element (or its{{em}} template wrapper) should be used:
This includes over-capitalization forsignification, i.e. to try to impress upon the reader the importance or specialness of something in a particular context. Introduction of aterm of art may be wikilinked and, optionally,given in non-emphasis italics on first occurrence. Example: useThe community of researchers in a field may produce ascientific consensus, not... may produce a Scientific Consensus.
On Wikipedia, mostacronyms are written in all capital letters (such asNATO,BBC, andJPEG). Wikipedia does not follow the practice of distinguishing between acronyms andinitialisms; unless that is their common name (e.g.Nasdaq), do not writeword acronyms, that are pronounced as if they were words, with an initial capital letter only, e.g., do not writeUNESCO asUnesco, orNASA asNasa.
Use only source-attested acronyms and initialisms;do not make up new ones (for example, theWorld Pool-Billiard Association is the WPA, and it is not referred to as the "WPBA").
"Also known as", when abbreviated on second or later occurrences, or in a table, should be given asa.k.a. orAKA (whichever reads more easily in the context). Do not useaka,A/K/A, or other unusual renderings.
Do not apply initial capitals or other forms of emphasis to common-noun phrases just because capitals are used when abbreviating them:
Similarly, when showing the source of anacronym,initialism, orsyllabic abbreviation, emphasizing the letters in the expansion that make up the acronym is unnecessary and potentially distracting:
In article text, do not use a capital letter after a hyphen except for terms that would ordinarily be capitalized in running prose, such as proper names (e.g.demonyms and brand names):Graeco-Roman andMediterranean-style, but notGandhi-Like. Letters used as designations are treated as names for this purpose:a size-A drill bit.(For cases involving titles of people, seeWP:Manual of Style/Biography § Hyphenation and compounds; for titles of works, seeWP:Manual of Style/Titles § Hyphenation.)
Avoid writing withall caps (all capital letters), includingsmall caps (all caps at a reduced size), when they have only astylistic function. Reduce them totitle case,sentence case, or normal case, as appropriate.
<strong> or{{strong}}).Certain material may be written with all capitals or small capitals:
{{LORD}} and{{GOD}}, when the distinction is important. These employ a mixture of all caps and small caps common in many Bible editions: LORD. Do not style these or similar words in colored text.[e]{{sc1}}, which distinguishes the case of the input, giving uppercase full-size and lowercase in a readable small-caps size; this makes the output both moreaccessible and accurate to copy-paste:{{sc1|DeVoto}} visually producesDeVoto, which copy-pastes as DeVoto. However, if such a citation style is not already established at an article, it is better avoided, as it is difficult to read and complicates the markup.{{unichar}} or similar. Example:the characterU+2053⁓SWUNG DASH. This is only done when presenting tables of Unicode data, and when discussing code point names as such. Otherwise prefer unstyled, plain-English character names (whether they coincide with code point names or not):the hyphen and the en dash, nottheHYPHEN-MINUS and theEN DASH.{{sc2}} is intended for this purpose) to reflect the letterforms of that era. This should only be done when it is contextually useful, as inlinguistic material and descriptions ofartifacts. Examples: letterforms atGaulish language § Orthography, and excerpts atDuenos inscription. This usage should preserve the original orthography to the extent possible in Unicode (e.g., use ofV in Latin for bothv andu). When rendered this way, such material need not be italicized as non-English.[f] When it is not possible to render such material as text, a photograph may prove useful, ifa free one is available.{{gcl}}, or by feeding a lowercase value to the generic template{{sc}}.[g] On first occurrence, use a piped link around the template:[[Plural|{{sc|pl}}]]. This style is not used forlexical glosses ofcontent morphemes; thesego in single quotes in a linear (inline) gloss (e.g., inSpanishperro, 'dog'), but no markup at all in aninterlinear gloss.{{sc2}}) is representation of alexical set; this markup is used in various linguistic articles and in our own reader-facing documentation that involves lexical sets, such asHelp:IPA/English.Most words with prefixes such asAnglo-,Franco-, etc. are capitalized. For example,Anglo-Saxon,Anglo-French, andAnglo-Norman are all capitalized. However, there is some variation concerning a small number of words of French origin. In French these words are not capitalized, and this sometimes carries over to English. There are variations, and since editors often refer to only one dictionary, they may unwittingly contraveneWikipedia:Manual of Style § Varieties of English by changing a usage to that which is more common in their own national dialect. The main (but not mandatory) exceptions to the capitalization rule are the following.[5]
Romanize,Latinize, and related words are often lowercased in a linguistic context in particular, butotherwise usually capitalized;italic[s], in the typography sense, is always lowercase.
Scientific names, which include bothgenus andspecies (sometimes alsosubspecies orother infraspecific names), have an initial capital letter for the genus, but not for the [sub]species (and are always italicized):the tulip tree isLiriodendron tulipifera;all modern humans areHomo sapiens. More specifically:
Cultivar andcultivar group names of plants are not italicized, and are capitalized. Cultivar names appear within single quotes:Malus domestica 'Red Delicious'. Cultivar groups do not use quotation marks, but do include and capitalize the word "Group" in the name:Cynara cardunculus Scolymus Group. While theICNCP has recently preferred the term "Group" (used by itself and capitalized) to refer to the cultivar group concept, please use the lower-case phrase "cultivar group" (aside from "Group" within an actual scientific name), as it is both less ambiguous and less typographically confusing to the average reader.
Orders, families and othertaxonomic ranks above genus level have an initial capital letter (and are not italicized):bats belong to the order Chiroptera;rats and mice are members of the family Muridae and the order Rodentia. However, the English form derived from the Latin name should not be capitalized or italicized:members of the order Chiroptera are chiropterans;members of the family Muridae are murids and members of the order Rodentia are rodents.
Lower-case initial letters are used for each part of the English (common, vernacular) names of species, genera, families and all other taxonomic levels (bacteria,zebra,bottlenose dolphin,mountain maple,bald eagle), except where they contain aproper name (Przewalski's horse,Amur tiger,Roosevelt elk), or when such a name starts a sentence[a] (Black bears eat white suckers and blueberries). If interpretation could be ambiguous, use links or rewording to make it clearer.
Names of standardized animalbreeds should generally retain the capitalization used in the breed standards (German Shepherd). Species names like "cat" or "hound" added to the end of a breed name for disambiguation should not be capitalized (Greyhound dog), unless it is a part of the breed name itself and is consistently capitalized in the breed standards (Norwegian Forest Cat,American Quarter Horse).
As of 2017,[update] wikiprojects for some groups of organisms are in the process of converting to sentence case where title case was previously used. Some articles may not have been changed yet (this may still be true of someinsect articles and someplant ones, as well as a few onamphibians and reptiles).
The common name of agroup of species ortype of organism is always written in lower case (except where a proper name occurs):
This also applies to an individual creature of indeterminate species.
Capitalize the names of months, days, and holidays:June,Monday,Fourth of July,Michaelmas,the Ides of March.Seasons are uncapitalized (a hot summer) except when personified:soon Spring will show her colors;Old Man Winter.
The wordsSun,Earth,Moon andSolar System are capitalized (as proper names) when used to refer to a specific celestial body in an astronomical context (The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System;the Moon orbits Earth). They are not capitalized when used outside an astronomical context, such as when referring to sunshine (It was a clear day and the sun felt warm), or when used in a general sense (Io is a moon of Jupiter). However, they are capitalized in personifications, as inSol Invictus ('Unconquered Sun') was the ancient Roman sun god.
Names of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, stars, constellations, and galaxies are proper names and begin with a capital letter (The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux). The first letter of every word in such a name is capitalized (Alpha Centauri and notAlpha centauri;Milky Way, notMilky way). In the case of compounds with generic terms such ascomet andgalaxy (but notstar orplanet), the generic is retained at the end of the name and capitalized as part of it (Halley's Comet is the most famous of the periodic comets;astronomers describe the Andromeda Galaxy as a spiral galaxy). However,Milky Way galaxy is a descriptive phrase, without capitalized "galaxy", and should usually be reduced to the actual name,Milky Way, because that name is not ambiguous. If it is unclear what the Milky Way is in the context, consider using something clearer, likeEarth's galaxy, the Milky Way. Do not capitalize descriptive terms that precede the name of an astronomical object:comet Bradfield 1,galaxy HCM-6A.
Points of the compass (north,north-east,southeast, etc.), and their derived forms (northern,southeasterly, etc.) are not generally capitalized:nine miles south of Oxford,a northern road. They are capitalized only when they form part of a proper name, such asGreat North Road.
Doubts frequently arise when referring to regions, such aseastern Spain andSouthern California. If one is consistently capitalized in reliable sources (as withNorth Korea,Southern California, orWestern Europe), then the direction word in it is capitalized. Otherwise it is not, as witheastern Spain orsouthwest Poland. If you are not sure whether a region has attained proper-name status, assume it has not.
Follow the same convention for related forms: a person from theSouthern United States is aSoutherner.
Compound compass points are usually fully compounded inAmerican English, for examplenorthwest, while inBritish English they are sometimes written as separate words or hyphenated, as innorth-west. This also affects names of regions such asSoutheastern United States andSouth East England. Finer compass points take a hyphen after the first word, regardless, and never use a space:south-southeast orsouth-south-east, but notsouth-south east,south southeast, etc.
The names of formally definedgeological periods and the rock layers corresponding to them are capitalized. Thus theDevonian Period or theLate Cretaceous Epoch are internationally defined periods of time, whereas thelate Cretaceous is an unspecified time towards the end of the Cretaceous. Do not capitalize outside a complete formal name: thusthe Devonian is a period rather thanthe Devonian is a Period.
Usesentence case, nottitle case, in all section headings. Capitalize the first character of the first element if it is a letter, but leave the rest lower case except for proper names and other items that would ordinarily be capitalized in running text.
The same applies to thetitles of articles,table headers and captions, the headers ofinfoboxes andnavigation templates, andimage captions and alt text.(For list items, see next section.)
Linking is easier if titles are in sentence case. It is easier for articles to be merged or split if headings resemble titles.
The initial letter in a sentence[a] is capitalized. This does not apply if it begins with a letter which is always left uncapitalized (as in "eBay";see§ Items that require initial lower case, below), although it is usually preferable to recast the sentence.
When an independent clause ends with a dash or semicolon, the first letter of the following word should not be capitalized, even if it begins a new independent clause that could be a grammatically separate sentence:Cheese is a dairy product; bacon is not. For guidance after colons, seeWP:Manual of Style § Colons.
In a list, if each item of the list is a complete sentence, then it should be capitalized like any other sentence. If the list items are sentence fragments, then capitalization should be consistent – sentence case should be applied to either all or none of the items. SeeWP:Manual of Style § Bulleted and numbered lists.
In contexts where the case of symbols is significant, like those related toprogramming languages,mathematical notation (for example, the mathematical constante is not equivalent toE), or the names ofunits of physical quantities or their symbols, the correct case should always be retained, even in situations where normal rules would require capitalization, such as at the beginning of a sentence.[a] Try to avoid putting such lowercase symbols (or any non-alphabetic ones) at the start of a sentence within running text.(See alsoWikipedia:Manual of Style/Mathematics.)
Some individuals do not want their personal names capitalized. In such cases, Wikipedia articles may use lower-case variants of personal names if they have regular and established use in reliable third-party sources (for example,k.d. lang). When such a name is the first word in a sentence, the rule forinitial letters in sentences and list items should take precedence, and the first letter of the personal name should be capitalized regardless of personal preference.
For proprietary names such asAdidas (written as "adidas" by the company itself) andeBay, see§ Trademarks, below.
If an article title begins with such a letter that needs to be in lower case (as in the above examples), use the{{lowercase}} template or equivalent code. Note that it is not currently possible to makecategories display with an initial lowercase letter in an article's category box. Hence the link toCategory:eBay at the foot of the articleeBay must display as "EBay". Similarly the article titleeBay will be displayed as "EBay" in the category listing.
These principles also apply to terms for the output of institutions, companies, and other organizations (act,bill,law,regulation,product,service,report,guideline, etc.).
The general rule is that wherever a military term is an accepted proper name, as indicated by consistent capitalization in sources, it should be capitalized. Where there is uncertainty as to whether a term is generally accepted, consensus should be reached on the talk page.
Names of genres (such as musical or literary) are not capitalized unless they contain a proper name. For example:
Radio formats such asadult contemporary orclassic rock are also not capitalized.The same goes for dance, including types, genres, styles, moves, and social activities (ballets de cour,ballroom dancing,traditional square dance,rock step,line dancing). Proper names, as always, are excepted:St. Louis shag.
In English,proper names, which can be either single words or phrases, are typically capitalized. Such names are frequently a source of conflict, especially when different cultures, using different names, claim someone or something as their own. (Avoidedit warring or pushing aparticular viewpoint.) Wikipedia does not adjudicate such disputes, but as a general rule uses the name which is likely to be most familiar to readers of English. Alternative names oftenare also given, for greater clarity and fuller information.
For information on the use of proper names as article titles, seeWikipedia:Article titles. See alsoWikipedia:Use English.
For use of diacritics (accent marks), seeWikipedia:Manual of Style § Spelling and romanization.
For treatment of trademarks, seeWikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks.
Names for peoples and cultures, languages and dialects, nationalities, ethnic and religious groups, demonyms, and the like are capitalized, including in adjectival forms (Japanese cuisine,Cumbrian dialect). Cultural terms may lose their capitalization when their connection to the original culture has been lost (or there never really was one). Some fairly conventionalized examples arefrench fries, typographicalromanization,english (cue-ball spin) in pool playing,scotch-doubles tournament,bone china,gum arabic,byzantine ('overly complex'). Some are more transitional and can be written either way:latinization of names,dutch date,lynching, andrussian roulette. Always capitalized:French cuisine,cultural Romanization,English billiards,Scotch whisky,Arabic coffee,liturgical Latinization,the Byzantine Empire,Dutch oven. Avoid over-capitalizing adjectival forms of such terms in other languages, most of which do not capitalize as much as English does. E.g., the book titleDiccionario biográfico español ('Spanish Biographical Dictionary')does not capitalize thee ofespañol. If in doubt, check how multiple high-quality reliable sources in English treat the name or phrase.
Combining forms are also generally capitalized where the proper name occurs: (pan-Celticism,Austro-Hungarian,un-American). Some may be fully fused and decapitalized if the name is mid-word; e.g.,unamerican,panamerican,transatlantic, andantisemitism are well-attested. There is no consensus on Wikipedia for or against either form, except forantisemitism, which is preferred in wikivoice per the consensus of scholars and historians of antisemitism. Forconsistency within the article, preferun-American andpan-American in an article that also usesanti-American,pan-African, and similar compounds.(See alsoWP:Manual of Style § US and U.S., for consistency between country abbreviations.)
Where a common name in English encompasses both a people and their language, that term is preferred, as inSwahili people andSwahili language rather thanWaswahili andKiswahili.
Ethno-racial "color labels" may be given capitalized (Black andWhite) or lower-case (black andwhite); mixed use (Black, butwhite) is also acceptable if editors at a particular article find it appropriate.[h] The capitalized form will be more appropriate in the company of other upper-case terms of this sort (Asian–Pacific, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Indigenous,[i] and White demographic categories).Brown should not be used in Wikipedia's own voice, as it is ambiguous, and in the popular sense isinformal, anAmericanism, and aneologistic usage which conflicts with prior more specific senses. The old epithetsRed andYellow, plusColored (in the American sense) andNegro, are generally taken to be offensive, and should only be used in quotations. When used in the context of direct quotations, titles of works, and organization names ("... Dr.Fu Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man"; E. R. Baierlein'sIn the Wilderness with the Red Indians;National Association for the Advancement of Colored People;United Negro College Fund),follow the original's spelling. The termColoured in reference to a specific ethnic group of Southern Africa is not a slur, and is capitalized;person/people of colo[u]r is not offensive, and not capitalized.
For eponyms more broadly, seeWP:Manual of Style § Eponyms
Personal names are the names given to people, but can be used as well for some animals (like race horses) and natural or man-made inanimate objects (like ships and geological formations). As proper nouns, these names are almost always first-letter capitalized. An exception is made when the lowercase variant has received regular and established use in reliable independent sources. In these cases, the name is still capitalized when at the beginning of a sentence, per the normal rules of English. Minor elements in certain names are not capitalized, but this can vary by individual:Marie van Zandt,John Van Zandt. Use the style that dominates for that person in reliable sources; for aliving subject, prefer the spelling consistentlyused in the subject's own publications.
Geographical orplace names are the nouns used to refer to specific places and geographic features. Names such as Japan, the Nile, New York, Buenos Aires, and Tierra del Fuego are treated as proper names and take an initial capital letter on all major elements. If a place belongs to a class and the class is conventionally capitalized as part of the name of the place, the class is capitalized, such as Mississippi River and Gulf of Tonkin, but notBongaigaon district. Terms for types of places and features do not take capitals:the town hall;the capital city;an ocean;the savannah;karst topography.
Names of organized religions (as well as officially recognized sects), whether as a noun or an adjective, and their adherents start with a capital letter. Unofficial movements, ideologies or philosophies within religions are generally not capitalized unless derived from a proper name. For example,Islam,Christianity,Catholic,Pentecostal, andCalvinist are capitalized, whileevangelicalism andfundamentalism are not.
Proper names and conventional titles referencing deities are capitalized:God,Allah,Freyja,the Lord,the Supreme Being,the Messiah. The same is true when referring to important religious figures, such as Muhammad, by terms such asthe Prophet.Common nouns not used as titles should not be capitalized:the Norse gods,personal god,comparison of supreme beings in four indigenous religions. In biblical and related contexts,God is capitalized only when it is a title for the deity of theAbrahamic religions, andprophet is generally not capitalized.Heaven andHell are capitalized when referring to a specific place (Christians believe Jesus ascended to Heaven) but lowercase in other circumstances (the heavens opened up with rain; the ice cream was heavenly; reading this book was hell for him).
Transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense may also begin with a capital letter:Good andTruth. However, this can often seem stilted, biased, or even sarcastic, so it is best avoided when possible (e.g., confined to directly quoted material, or used in a philosophical context in which the usage is conventional); usean inquest seeking justice for the victims, notJustice. Nouns (other than names) referring to any material or abstract representation of any deity, human or otherwise, are not capitalized:an avatar of Shiva,an ikon of Saint John,Gabriel, a messenger of God,the crow as a manifestation of the Irish goddess Morrígan (notAvatar,Ikon,Messenger,Crow, orManifestation).
Except in direct quotation,pronouns for deities and figures of veneration are not capitalized, even if they are capitalized in scripture or according to a religious convention:Jesus addressed his followers, notJesus addressed His followers.
The names of major works of scripture, such as the Bible, the Quran, the Talmud, and the Vedas, should be capitalized (but are often not italicized). The adjectivebiblical should not be capitalized.Quranic is normally capitalized, but usage varies fortalmudic,vedic, etc. Be consistent within an article.
Do not capitalize terms denoting types of religious or mythical beings, such asangel,fairy, ordeva. The personal names of individual beings are capitalized as normal (the archangel Gabriel). An exception to the general rule is made when such terms are used to denote races and the like inspeculative fiction, in which case they are capitalized if the work capitalizes them (the Elves of Tolkien's Middle-earth).
Spiritual or religious events are capitalized only when referring to proper names of specific incidents or periods (the Great Flood andthe Exodus; butancient Egyptian myths about the Nile's annual flooding, andan exodus of refugees from Soviet religious persecution).
Doctrines, ideologies, philosophies, theologies, theories, movements, methods, processes, systems or schools of thought and practice, and fields of academic study or professional practice arenot capitalized, unless the name derives from a proper name. E.g., lowercaserepublican refers to a general system of political thought (republican sentiment in Ireland); uppercaseRepublican is used in reference tospecific political parties with this word in their names (each being a proper-noun phrase) in various countries (a Democratic versus Republican Party stalemate in the US Senate). Nevertheless, watch for idiom, especially a usage that has become disconnected from the original doctrinal/systemic referent and is often lower-cased in sources (in which case, do not capitalize):Platonic idealism butaplatonic relationship;theDraconian constitution of Athens butcomplained of draconian policies at her workplace. Doctrinal topics, canonical religious ideas, and procedural systems that may be traditionally capitalized within a faith or field are given in lower case in Wikipedia, such asa virgin birth,original sin,transubstantiation, andmethod acting.
In the names of scientific and mathematical concepts, only proper names (or words derived from them) should be capitalized:Hermitian matrix orLorentz transformation,Down syndrome. However, some conventionalized exceptions exist, such asabelian group andBig Bang theory. In some specialized fields, acharacter other than the first is considered the "first letter" for sentence- and title-case capitalization purposes.
For more guideline material relating to mathematics and sciences, see:Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers, andCategory:Wikipedia Manual of Style (science).
Trademarked sports and games are capitalizedlike any other trademarks. Those that are published works (board games, roleplaying games, video games) are italicized like titles of other major works:Scrabble,Dungeons & Dragons,The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Non-stand-alone add-on publications, such as RPG modules andDLCs are minor works and take quotation marks. Sport and game rule books and rule sets are also capitalized, italicized works; named chapters within them take quotation marks, and may be given in sentence case or title case as appropriate for the context, as with chapters of other works.(For more information on titles of works, seeWP:Manual of Style/Titles.)
Terms relating to trademarked sports, games, and activities are capitalized if they are usually capitalized in the context of this activity:ability scores inDungeons & Dragons, card names inMagic: The Gathering, etc. However, generic terms such ashit point,victory point, orplayer character are not capitalized.
Sports, games, and other activities that are not trademarked or copyrighted are not capitalized (except where one contains a proper name or acronym, or begins a sentence). This includes groups of sports or games (winter sports,carom billiards,trick-taking card games), traditional sports including modern ones (field hockey,triathlon,BASE jumping), traditional games (Texas hold 'em poker,chess,spin-the-bottle), folk and social dances and dance styles (kołomyjka,Viennese waltz,line dancing), and other such group and solo activities (flash mob,hackathon,birthday party,workout,biology class,political rally,binge-watch,speed dating,tweeting).
Likewise, venue types, sports equipment, game pieces, rules, moves, techniques, jargon, and other terms relating to sports, games, and activities are given in lower case and without special stylization such as italics (with the standard exceptions; e.g., capitalize proper names, italicize non-English words):football pitch,pool cue,queen of diamonds,infield fly rule,triple Lutz,semi-massé,spear tackle).
There are occasional, conventionalized variances, e.g.:
Specific competition titles and events (or series thereof) are capitalized if they are usually capitalized in independent sources:WPA World Nine-ball Championship,Tour de France,Americas Cup. Generic usage is not:a three-time world champion,international tournaments. None take italics or other special markup.
The above rules of thumb should also be applied toglossary entries; they are collectively an exception to the general practice of starting all list items with a capital letter, since upper-casing them all confuses readers as to which are proper names.(For our most-developed example of a glossary article, seeGlossary of cue sports terms.)
There are also three related naming-conventions guidelines:
Variousgames- andsports-related wikiprojects also provideadvice essays that often include topical style, naming, and layout tips. (However, many aren't well-maintained, and may conflict with some current guideline and policy wording; remember that they are essays.)
Do not ordinarily capitalize the definite article after the first word of a sentence;[a] however, some idiomatic expressions, including the titles of artistic and academic works, should be quoted exactly, according to common usage.
This also applies to indefinite articles (a,an):System of a Down notSystem of A Down. Other than titles of works, proper names starting with a required indefinite article that would be exceptions, likeA Split-Second, are very rare.
There are special considerations for:band names · institution names · nicknames · titles of works · trademarks.
In English-language titles, every word is capitalized, except forarticles, short coordinating conjunctions, and short prepositions. The first and last words within a title (and within a subtitle) are capitalized regardless of their grammatical role. This is known astitle case. Capitalization of non-English titles varies by language.
This is not applied to Wikipedia's own articles, which are given insentence case:[a] capitalize the first letter, and proper names (e.g.,List of cohomology theories,Foreign policy of the Hugo Chávez administration).
For trademarks, editors should choose among styles already in common use (not invent new ones) and, among those, use the style that most closely resembles standard English text formatting and capitalization rules. For trademarks that are given in mixed or non-capitalization by their owners (such asadidas), follow the formatting and capitalization used byindependent reliable sources. When sources are mixed, follow the standard formatting and capitalization used forproper names (in this case, as in most,Adidas). The mixed or non-capitalized formatting should be mentioned in the article lead, or illustrated with a graphical logo.
Trademarks beginning with a one-letter lowercase prefix pronounced as a separate letter, followed by a capitalized second letter, such asiPod andeBay, are written in that form if this has become normal English usage for that name. For considerations relating to such items, see§ Items that require initial lower case above andWikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks § Trademarks that begin with a lowercase letter.
{{sc}} reduces input to all lowercase (when copy-pasted), but displayed as smallcaps:{{sc|AbCdEF}} producesABCDEF, copy-pastes asabcdef. The actual rule in linguistics has been expressed as "Put glosses of grammatical morphemes into a font which contrasts some way with the font used for glosses which translate lexical morphemes."[2] While small caps is often recommended,[3][4] not forcing these abbreviations to uppercase permitsreusers of our content to use whatever styling suits their purposes.