Small letters The term "lowercase" is derived from the days of hot metal, where the small letters were kept in a separate type case on the lower shelf, and uppercase letters were kept on the upper shelf
Noncapital letters, such as a, b, c, and so on The name is derived from the practice of placing these letters in the bottom (lower) case of a pair of type cases Compare uppercase
relating to small (not capitalized) letters that were kept in the lower half of a compositor's type case; "lowercase letters; a and b and c etc"
Keyboard characters (letters) that are "small," such as x, y, z, as opposed to the uppercase or CAPITAL letters, X, Y, Z The term dates back to the early days of printing when the small letter characters were stored in drawers (cases) underneath the capital letters
As opposed to Uppercase, Lowercase letters take the form of a,b,c instead of A,B,C Programs that are 'case-sensitive' can differentiate between upper and lowercase
{s} (about a letter) minuscule, not in the capital form; pertaining to the lower case
The small letters of a typeface, as opposed to the capital letters, or uppercase letters Derived from the location of the type cases in which typographers used to store metal or wood letterforms