cap

The word “cap” means a soft, close-fitting hat, often with a brim or peak, and no full brim all the way round. In plain terms, most often a soft hat, a protective cover, or a maximum limit — plus, in slang, a lie.

“Cap” is pronounced kap (/kæp/ in IPA).

Here is “cap” used in a sentence: “He pulled his baseball cap low to shade his eyes.”

Depending on how it is used, “cap” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “cap” comes from Late Latin. From Old English cæppe ("hood, head-covering"), itself borrowed from Late Latin cappa. The same root eventually gave English "cape," "cope," and "chapel.".

“Cap” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Cap” has 6 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a soft, close-fitting hat, often with a brim or peak, and no full brim all the way round.

Hat is the general word for any head covering, and a cap is one particular kind. A cap is soft and close-fitting, usually with a peak or short brim at the front rather than a full brim all the way round. So every cap is a hat, but not every hat is a cap.

Everyday styles include the baseball cap with its curved peak, the flat cap and its cousin the newsboy, the knitted beanie, and the beret. There are also uniform and military caps, swimming caps, and skull caps. What they share is a snug fit and the absence of a full surrounding brim.

Both are soft, close-fitting caps, but they differ in shape and material. A beanie is a knitted, brimless cap that hugs the head for warmth. A cap in the usual sense, like a baseball cap, has a stiff peak at the front. In short, a beanie is a brimless, snug type of cap.

The stiff projecting part at the front that shades the eyes is called the peak in British English and the bill or visor in American English. It is the feature that sets caps like the baseball cap apart from brimless styles, helping to shield the face from sun and rain.