Compounds

Q. With words such as “PowerPoint,” the capital letters are retained when the words are melded. Is there a label for this category of words?

A. A word with a capital letter in the middle of it is said to have a “midcap”; such a word itself can also, by means of synecdoche, be referred to as a midcap. The name seems especially apt, given that corporations seem to be responsible for most such constructions. The word “midcap” does double duty in Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400—in which “MidCap” not only refers to a class of medium-sized companies but is itself a midcap.