initial

  1. Adjective.  Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.
  2. Adjective.  Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word.
  3. Noun.  The first letter of a word or a name.
  4. Noun.  In plural, the first letter of each word of a person's full name considered as a unit.
  5. Noun.  (typesetting, calligraphy) A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.
  6. Verb.  (transitive) To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.