caption

Etymology
Borrowed from, from the past participle of (🇨🇬). Compare 🇨🇬.

Noun

 * 1)  The descriptive heading or title, of a document or part thereof.
 * 2) A title or brief explanation attached to an illustration, cartoon, user interface element, etc.
 * 3)  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.
 * 4) * By analogy, text in a similar system used in a performance venue for transcription of a live event.
 * 5)  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.
 * 6)  A seizure or capture, especially of tangible property (chattel).
 * 7) * 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.
 * The caption and asportation must be felonious.

Usage notes
In live or recorded audiovisual performance, captions is an umbrella term for closed captions (abbreviated CC) and open captions. Closed captions are visible only to the intended users: on television, via a decoding device, setting, or software; in cinema or performance venues, via a captioning device provided at certain seats or visible using special glasses. Open captions are visible to everyone watching—in many opera houses, for example, there are s (also called s) projected above the stage or on devices at each seat showing the libretto, often translated into the local language. Some countries require educational or government/public-service television programs to be open-captioned for the benefit of the deaf, hard of hearing, developmentally disabled, or people learning the local language.

In film and video, captions may transcribe or describe all dialogue and significant sounds for viewers who cannot hear it, while subtitles translate foreign-language dialogue. This distinction is sometimes made using the term (SDH), which corresponds to (closed/open) captions, while the general term subtitles is reserved for onscreen transcription intended for the use of a hearing audience. For instance, SDH or captions may include annotations such as (sirens) (to describe a sound) or (angrily) (to describe a tone of voice), where subtitles do not, on the assumption that the subtitle users can hear the sound or tone of voice.

Derived terms

 * closed caption, closed-caption, closed captions, closed captioned, closed-captioned, close captioned, close-captioned, closed captioning, closed-captioning
 * open caption, open-caption, open captions
 * real time caption, real-time caption, real time captioning, real-time captioning
 * real time caption, real-time caption, real time captioning, real-time captioning

Translations

 * Bulgarian: ,
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech:
 * Dutch:, , , ,
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Italian:
 * Macedonian: заглавие, натпис, опис
 * Manx: fo-heidyl
 * Marathi: मथळा
 * Plautdietsch: Äwaschreft
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian:, ,
 * Spanish:
 * Welsh: pennawd


 * Bulgarian:
 * Czech: popisek
 * Dutch:, , ,
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German:, , , , Bildüberschrift
 * Irish: ceannscríbhinn, foscríbhinn , fotheideal , teideal
 * Italian:, ,
 * Japanese:
 * Korean:
 * Macedonian: натпис, опис
 * Manx: fo-heidyl
 * Maori: tapanga, whakapūaho
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian: ,
 * Spanish: ,


 * Bulgarian:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech:
 * Dutch: ,
 * Finnish:
 * French:, sous-titrage pour sourds et malentendants
 * Galician: subtítulo, subtítulos descritivos, subtítulos para xordos
 * German:, Filmuntertitel
 * Hungarian:
 * Indonesian:
 * Italian: ,
 * Macedonian: титл
 * Manx: fo-heidyl
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian: ,
 * Scottish Gaelic: fo-thiotal
 * Slovak: titulok
 * Spanish:, subtítulos descriptivos, subtítulos para sordos


 * Dutch: ,
 * German:
 * Italian: parte iniziale
 * Russian: сопроводи́тельная бума́га

Verb

 * 1) To add captions to a text or illustration.
 * Only once the drawing is done will the letterer caption it.
 * 1) To add captions to a film or broadcast.

Translations

 * Czech: opatřit popiskem
 * Dutch: ,
 * French:
 * Spanish:


 * Czech: opatřit titulky
 * Dutch:
 * French:
 * Macedonian: титлува
 * Portuguese:
 * Spanish: