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Should the words “internet” and “web” be capitalized?

For the most part Internet is capitalized, less frequently it occurs uncapitalized. Is this a style issue or is one considered more correct.

Subjectively, would the average reader consider using the uncapitalized version to be a mistake / display of poor English?

Community
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jsj
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3 Answers3

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Internet should be capitalised, because it's a proper noun and defines a single, definite thing not something general (like the word tree, for example).

If you look up the word, you'll find it always capitalised, I can link you to the OALD, as an example.

If you're writing in some informal context, most people won't mind if you write it lowercase, though. But if we consider some official context, for example writing your Curriculum Vitae, you would write it properly.

EDIT: After Garet's comment, I decided to introduce a distinction. If you want to refer to a general inter-network (which by the way, it's the compound where "Internet" comes from) or if you want to use the same term to refer to something which is not the World Wide Internet, then it would be written lowercase.

Alenanno
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    +1 good answer. Something to add but I think this is the right answer so I'll put it here. There's a difference in capitalization for 'the Internet' and, say, an internet between two partner organizations. The former being the "normal" Internet and the latter usually being two inter-connected intra nets. – That Realtor Programmer Guy May 19 '11 at 13:30
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    @Garet Claborn: You're right, I didn't thought of making the distiction since his doubts were basically about the Internet we all know... :D – Alenanno May 19 '11 at 14:21
  • True, true. I just wanted to say it so no one would someday read this question and go violently accost unsuspecting writers of 'an internet'. ;P – That Realtor Programmer Guy May 19 '11 at 14:27
  • Can the person who downvoted explain why? Thanks. – Alenanno May 19 '11 at 14:45
  • @Alenanno, that logic is not airtight. For example, "web browser" is lowercase, which is software for browsing the "World Wide Web", capitalized. There is only one web, yet it's capitalization is variable. The rules have changed over time. Eventually, it may be that the Internet would go the way of Television and Radio (which were originally capitalized). Some publishers lowercase internet. It's a convention, with plausible reasons, but a convention nonetheless. – Paul Draper Apr 11 '14 at 18:56
  • @PaulDraper That might be because "web browser" is a common noun, not a proper noun. The actual web browsers are capitalized though. I think that's the difference there. :D But yeah, I think that "internet" might lose the capital and probably it's already happening. – Alenanno Apr 11 '14 at 19:34
  • How do you know the Internet is a proper noun? Why don't we capitalize the Sky? – reinierpost May 01 '18 at 15:25
  • "The world" is not capitalised, and there is only one. Also "the universe" and many more counterexamples. If it was truly a proper noun, it wouldn't need "the". Compare "God" with "a god". You don't say "the Dave", just "Dave". You never use "the" with a proper noun, except humorously. Capitalisation is used to make a noun important, e.g. "the Queen". When the internet first became available to the public it was big. It's not so big anymore because it's become part of our lives. – CJ Dennis May 28 '18 at 23:43
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An internet is simply a network of networks. The Internet is the worldwide TCP/IP-based internet that we all share.

Usually, you'll want to avoid the generic lowercase usage, to avoid confusion.

phenry
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  • +1 - internet can also be used (without capitalization) to describe something (ie. an internet-ready computer) – snumpy May 19 '11 at 14:29
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I would say that it is becoming less and less common to write "Internet", as if it were a proper noun. Indeed, the use of the phrasing "the internet" tends to indicate that "internet" is not a proper noun, because if it were, the word "the" would be redundant.

The proportion of people who are familiar with the origin of "the internet" as a proper noun, or indeed to who understand that the phenomenological features of the internet qualify it as being capable of having a proper noun, seems to be dwindling. My guess is that most people think of the internet as being like the telephone system or the air - a thing that lacks either unity, number, or identity.

Marcin
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