caption
AI In plain words
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
caption
- /ˈkæp.ʃən/
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Latin captiō (“deception, fraud”), from the past participle of capiō (“to take, to seize”) (English capture). Compare Middle English capcioun (“seizure, capture”).
noun captions
- The descriptive heading or title, of a document or part thereof.
- A title or brief explanation attached to an illustration, cartoon, user interface element, etc. Some of the photographs are new and interesting, but many captions are amateurish, uninformative or simply careless.
- A piece of text appearing on screen as a subtitle or other part of a film or broadcast, describing dialogue (and sometimes other sound) for viewers who cannot hear. (theater, performance production) By analogy, text in a similar system used in a performance venue for transcription of a live event.
- The section on an official paper (for example, as part of a seizure or capture) that describes when, where, and what was taken, found or executed, and who authorized the act.
- A seizure or capture, especially of tangible property (chattel). 1919 Thomas Welburn Hughes. A treatise on criminal law and procedure. The Bobbs-Merril Co., Indianapolis, IN, USA. Sec. 557 (p. 378). The caption and asportation must be felonious.
- A story that is embedded in a pre-existing image (sometimes with image manipulation)
verb captions · captioning · captioned
- To add captions to a text or illustration. Only once the drawing is done will the letterer caption it.
- To add captions to a film or broadcast.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: subtitle, legend, subheading, heading, subtitling, header, headline, text, script, subhead, description, note, tag, lege, label, story
Translations
Every language
noun descriptive title or heading of (part of) a document
| Español | prefacio |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 標題 /标题 biāotí |
| Português | cabeçalho |
| Français | légende |
| Deutsch | Überschrift, Kopf, Einleitungsformel, Titel, Zwischenüberschrift |
| Italiano | intestazione |
| Русский | заголо́вок zagolóvok, загла́вие zaglávije, ру́брика rúbrika |
noun title or brief explanation attached to an illustration or cartoon
| Español | título, leyenda, capción, intitulación |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 표제 pyoje |
| 日本語 | キャプション kyapushon |
| Português | legenda |
| Français | légende |
| Deutsch | Titel, Legende, Beschriftung, Bildunterschrift, Bildüberschrift, Bildtext |
| Italiano | didascalia, legenda, dicitura |
| Русский | на́дпись nádpisʹ, по́дпись pódpisʹ |
noun piece of text appearing on screen as part of a film or broadcast
| Español | subtítulo descriptivo, subtítulo para sordos |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 字幕 zìmù |
| Português | legenda |
| Français | sous-titre, sous-titrage pour sourds et malentendants |
| Deutsch | Untertitel, Filmuntertitel, Bildtext |
| Italiano | sottotitolo, didascalia |
| Русский | заста́вка zastávka, на́дпись nádpisʹ |
noun section of an official paper
| Deutsch | Rubrum |
|---|---|
| Italiano | parte iniziale |
| Русский | сопроводи́тельная бума́га soprovodítelʹnaja bumága |
verb to add captions to a text or illustration
| Español | intitular, capcionar |
|---|---|
| Français | légender |
| Deutsch | betiteln, titeln |
verb to add captions to a film or broadcast
| Español | subtitular |
|---|---|
| Português | legendar |
| Français | sous-titrer |
Talk about this word "caption." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/caption. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. caption. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/caption "caption." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/caption.Cite this
@misc{caption_2026,
title = {caption},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/caption},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
