# Drop cap

> Source: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/drop-cap

Last updated: 2026-09-06
Category: Typesetting & layout
Also called: Initial · Raised cap

A drop cap is an enlarged first letter that drops two or more lines into a chapter’s opening paragraph — a decorative signal that a section begins.

## Definition

A **drop cap** is an initial letter set in a much larger size, its top aligned with the first line's cap height and its body dropping down into the lines below — typically three lines, sometimes two or four. It descends from the painted initials of manuscript books and marks the start of a chapter or section.

There are cousins. A **raised cap** (or *stick-up initial*) sits on the baseline of the first line and rises above it; a **hanging initial** sits out in the margin. Whichever is used, the convention is to set the first word, or the first few words, in **small caps** so the eye steps down gently from the initial to the text size.

A drop cap is easy to do badly: the letter must be optically aligned (a round O or a pointed A needs adjusting), the text should wrap tightly to its shape, and quotation marks that open a chapter are usually dropped or hung outside the initial.

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