1.
lowercase letter
A small letter of the alphabet, as opposed to a capital letter. Used when discussing Roman script (romaji) or foreign languages.
パスワードは小文字で入力してください。
Please enter the password in lowercase.
メールアドレスの大文字と小文字は区別されない。
Email addresses are not case-sensitive (uppercase and lowercase are not distinguished).
大文字と小文字を含むパスワードを設定してください。
Please set a password that includes both uppercase and lowercase letters.
2.
small kana character
A small-sized kana character such as ぁ, ぃ, っ, ゃ, ゅ, ょ. These are used for contracted sounds (拗音), the double consonant (促音), and other phonetic purposes.
「きゃ」の「ゃ」は小文字だ。
The 'ya' in 'kya' is a small kana character.
「っ」は小文字の「つ」で、促音を表す。
The small 'tsu' (っ) represents a double consonant.
キーボードで小文字の「ゃ」を打つには、まず「x」か「l」を押す。
To type the small 'ya' (ゃ) on a keyboard, first press 'x' or 'l'.
USAGE:
The opposite is 大文字 (uppercase letter / large kana). In computing contexts, 小文字 usually refers to lowercase Roman letters. In Japanese language contexts, it refers to the small kana characters (ぁぃぅぇぉっゃゅょ and their katakana equivalents).
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 大文字小文字: uppercase and lowercase
- 小文字に変換する: convert to lowercase
- 小文字の「っ」: the small tsu