Proper Adjectives: When an Adjective Takes a Capital Letter
A proper adjective is formed from a proper noun and keeps its capital letter. France gives French, Shakespeare gives Shakespearean, Victoria gives Victorian.
They are the only adjectives in English that are capitalised, which makes them the one place where choosing an adjective changes your punctuation.
Where they come from
| Source | Proper noun | Proper adjective |
|---|---|---|
| Country or region | Italy, Norway, Asia | Italian marble, Norwegian wood, Asian markets |
| Person | Darwin, Freud, Orwell | Darwinian, Freudian, Orwellian |
| Period or dynasty | Tudor, Edwardian era | Tudor architecture, Edwardian manners |
| Religion | Buddhism, Islam | Buddhist temple, Islamic art |
| Brand | Google, Hoover | a Google search, a Hoover bag |
The endings are irregular and cannot be derived from a rule: -ish (Spanish), -ian (Canadian), -ese (Japanese), -i (Iraqi), -an (Mexican), or no ending at all (Swiss, Thai, Greek). Each one has to be learned.
When the capital disappears
A proper adjective loses its capital once the expression has drifted far enough from its origin that ordinary speakers no longer feel the connection. This is a gradual process, and dictionaries disagree at the edges.
- Lower case now standard: french fries, venetian blind, roman numeral, china plate, herculean effort, quixotic
- Capital still standard: French cuisine, Venetian canals, Roman Empire, Chinese porcelain
The test that works most often: if the phrase still refers to the actual place or person, keep the capital. If it names a general type that merely originated there, lower case is acceptable. French cuisine is the cooking of France; french fries are not the potatoes of France.
When in doubt, check a dictionary rather than reasoning it out – this is one of the few areas of English where convention beats logic outright, and house styles vary.
Hyphens and compounds
A proper adjective inside a compound keeps its capital and takes a hyphen when it sits before the noun: an Anglo-Saxon settlement, a Sino-American agreement, pre-Raphaelite painting. A prefix attached to a proper adjective is lower case while the adjective stays capitalised – anti-American, post-Victorian, un-Christian.
Common errors
| Wrong | Right |
|---|---|
| a english teacher | an English teacher |
| Shakespearian is misspelled | both Shakespearean and Shakespearian are accepted; pick one and stay with it |
| Italian-food restaurant | Italian food needs no hyphen – the adjective already modifies the noun |
| a Google-search | a Google search |
Proper adjectives are also the reason brand owners worry about their names becoming ordinary words. Once people write hoovering rather than Hoovering, the trademark has started to dissolve into the language.
Practice
Capital or lower case? Answers below.
- She ordered the (french / French) onion soup.
- He has a (herculean / Herculean) amount of work left.
- They restored a row of (victorian / Victorian) cottages.
- The recipe calls for (brussels / Brussels) sprouts.
- It was an (orwellian / Orwellian) piece of legislation.
Answers
| # | Answer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | still names the cuisine of France |
| 2 | herculean | fully drifted into a general sense |
| 3 | Victorian | names the actual period |
| 4 | Brussels | most dictionaries keep the capital; some allow lower case |
| 5 | Orwellian | still points at Orwell |
Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.
