"reduce from the rank or position of a capital city," 1870; see de- + capital (n.1) + -ize. As "to remove the financial capital from," by 1913, from capital (n.2). In reference to letters, "to change from upper case to lower case," by 1899. Related: Decapitalized; decapitalization.

city in China, literally "southern capital," from Chinese nan "south" + jing "capital."

small city in Illinois, U.S., originally the name of a subdivision of the Miami/Illinois people (1673), from native /peewaareewa/. Their own name is said to mean "carriers." The place name also is found in Oklahoma and Iowa, but it is the Illinois city that has been proverbially regarded as the typical measure of U.S. cultural and intellectual standards at least since Ambrose Bierce (c. 1890). Also the butt of baseball player jokes (c. 1920-40, when a team there was part of the St. Louis Cardinals farm system) and popularized in the catchphrase It'll play in Peoria (often negative), meaning "the average American will approve," which was popular in the Nixon White House (1969-74) but seems to have had a vaudeville origin. Personification in little old lady in Peoria is said to be from Harold Ross of the New Yorker. Peoria's rivals as embodiment of U.S. small city values and standards include Dubuque, Iowa; Hoboken and Hackensack, N.J.; Oakland (Gertrude Stein: "When you get there, there isn't any there there") and Burbank, Calif., and the entire state of North Dakota.

1908, from anesthesia + -ology.

Anesthesiology. This is the new term adopted by the University of Illinois defining "the science that treats of the means and methods of producing in man or animal various degrees of insensibility with or without hypnosis." [Medical Herald, January, 1912]

capital of Australia, 1826, from Aborigine nganbirra "meeting place."

1860, "act of converting (assets) to capital," noun of action from capitalize in the financial sense. The meaning "act of writing or printing in capital letters" is recorded from 1847, from the writing sense.

North Korean capital, from Korean p'yong "flat" + yang "land."

Nepalese capital, from Nepalese Kathmandu, from kath "wooden" + mandu "temple."

1704, of a letter, "capital;" 1738 as a noun, "a capital letter," from French majuscule (16c.), from Latin maiuscula (littera), fem. of maiusculus "somewhat larger, somewhat greater," diminutive of maior (see major (adj.)).

Lebanese capital, from Hebrew, literally "the wells," from be'erot, plural of be'er "well."