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I am of the belief that Hell should be capitalized because real or not, it is the name of a place, and thus a proper noun. It should be capitalized correct?

I have seen it written without capitalization plenty of times, but I suspect that most of those were just due to laziness or illiteracy (it tends to be written with a lower-case ‘h’ mostly on the Internet–sigh).

Other uses, including expletives seem to use it as a place name as well:

  • What [in] the Hell‽

  • Go to Hell!

Google gives mixed results and checking the WikiPedia entry for Hell to get a proper definition does indicate that it is a location, but even on that same page, there are plenty of instances with a lower-case ‘h’.

Is there a situation in which it would not be capitalized? What about uses as an adjective:

that job was Hell?

Community
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Synetech
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    That's a hella cool question! – user541686 Mar 02 '11 at 04:28
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    @Mehrdad, knock it off Cartman. – Synetech Mar 02 '11 at 04:29
  • For the record, I have since capitalized it only when referring to the location. – Synetech Feb 21 '13 at 19:47
  • I agree with the answer of @user2683, not the selected answer because "hell" needn't be capitalized when it is used as a proper noun. It certainly isn't in the Bible. There just are certain words that fall into the gray area between being a proper noun and being a common noun for a thing there's only one of, thus making it so you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want for those words (e.g., "the Earth" and "the earth," "the Internet" and "the internet," "the Devil" and "the devil," etc.). I've sometimes wondered why "the sky" and "the universe" don't fall into this quagmire. – Benjamin Harman Mar 30 '19 at 03:08

3 Answers3

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"Hell" is capitalized when it is used as a proper noun. That is, you capitalize it when you are referring to it as a specific place. However, it can be perfectly legitimate to leave it uncapitalized if you are not referring to a specific place.

"That job was hell" does not refer to a specific location, but rather a nebulous concept of torture. Thus, it is not capitalized in this sentence.

Peter Olson
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    I agree. (well unless the job literally was Hell, although I would say in that case you have bigger problems than grammar) – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 17:50
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    of the Corn, sounds good to me. @advs89, true, but in this economy, a job is a job. :-D – Synetech Mar 01 '11 at 21:06
  • CMoS says only to capitalize if used in a religious context. (CMoS 8.108) – t0dd Aug 16 '23 at 19:36
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Hell need not be capitalized, even when it refers to a specific place, in the same way we need not capitalize equator (see for example Larry Trask's Guide to Punctuation).

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary also allows for it to remain uncapitalized. Its capitalization then is possibly due to its religious significance and not its reference to a specific place.

Checking several bibles (that is as real as hell can be) also shows that it need not be capitalized.

Matt E. Эллен
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    But why? It is a place and every student learns that place names are capitalized. – Synetech Mar 01 '11 at 05:47
  • From WikiPedia: A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity, as distinguished from a common noun, which describes a class of entities. Unless “Toilet” is a specific city, then it isn’t analogous. – Synetech Mar 01 '11 at 05:56
  • Toilet is not a proper name of a place, whereas Hell is. – Brian Knoblauch Mar 01 '11 at 14:37
  • Hell is the name of a particular instance of a fiery torturous venue. If, for instance, you named your toilet "T-man," then it would be referring to your specific toilet (a specific instance of a toilet). In that case, "T-man" would be capitalized. – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 17:53
  • @Jasper Loy: In Physics, a pole is a well-defined and common noun. When someone says "the south pole," they are saying the pole that is to the south. It's an adjective modifying a common noun. If the south pole were called "Harry," then it would have to be capitalized. Toilet is also a common noun. Hell can be either. In most of the examples provided by the question, Hell is a proper noun. – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 17:58
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    Take a look at definition three for equator. "a circle separating a surface into two congruent parts." If it's using that definition, it's not capitalized. If referring to our equator on Earth, then it is. – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 21:31
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    All of this is sometimes relaxed, though, for words that are common. (which is probably your point) That doesn't necessarily make it "correct" though. (whatever "correct" means) – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 21:39
  • (I wrote that last comment before I saw your most recent one) – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 21:39
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    I just now read the excerpt in question... I'll admit I'm not a linguist but I don't see how the equator isn't "strictly a proper name." It fits the dictionary definition of "proper name/noun" perfectly. Even longer articles on the subject describe it that way. – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 21:47
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    @Jasper: Yes he does. He also says that it's not wrong, though. And as I mentioned before, the dictionary definition describes a "proper noun" in a way that fits equator perfectly. (Dictionaries have entire teams of linguists behind them) – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 21:56
  • @Jasper: Same here. It definitely looks like it's worth a read. – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 21:57
  • The equator isn’t really a specific place, but rather a general area because it encompasses a wide range of location. Then again the Prime Meridian or International Date Line are similar (albeit smaller and more specific)… – Synetech Mar 02 '11 at 04:32
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    @Jasper Loy, but then so is My House. :-) – Synetech Mar 02 '11 at 22:50
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    +1. This answer is correct. Peter Of The Corn's answer is wrong. A quick Google search shows that the Vatican usually does not capitalize hell, even when it is apparently being used as a proper noun. – Jason Orendorff Apr 01 '11 at 19:34
  • @advs89: I would regard "equator" as being like "moon". The moons of mars are called "Phobos" and "Deimos", while the moon of Earth is called "the Moon". Mars, like Earth, has an equator, but unlike Earth's (which is called "the Equator"), the equator of Mars has no special name. – supercat Apr 30 '14 at 23:41
  • @Synetech: Every planet or moon which rotates around a celestial north/south axis will have an equator (lowercase). The Equator (uppercase) is the equator of the Earth. – supercat Apr 30 '14 at 23:46
  • @supercat, yes, and many gardens on Earth are filled with earth every spring, but nobody borrows a cup of hell or drives a hell or has a hell-sandwich. – Synetech May 11 '14 at 02:16
  • @Synetech: Hot sauce vendors might disagree with some of your last statements. >:*3 – supercat May 11 '14 at 15:47
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If you believe it's a real place, then make it capitalized.

Hypothetical locations, on the other hand, can go without capitalization - no one would capitalize "la-la land", for example.

Artem
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    I suppose in the context of an RPG where there could be multiple hells, then sure, but in the Biblical context, there is a single Hell, regardless of existence, thus making it a proper noun. As for la-la-land, if it is used as a synonym for Los Angeles, then I believe it is indeed capitalized. – Synetech Mar 01 '11 at 05:58
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    Belief has nothing to do with whether you capitalize it or not. Proper nouns are capitalized. You wouldn't write "atlantis" simply because you do not believe it exists. – Robert Cartaino Mar 01 '11 at 17:52
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    If la-la land refers to a specific hypothetical place, then it should be capitalized. Also, as a rebuttal to your assertion that hypothetical locations don't have to be capitalized, consider works of fiction. Would you argue that you could get away with not capitalizing Narnia even though it doesn't exist? (granted, that's fictional and not hypothetical but the difference in the two grammatically is arguably negligible) – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 18:12
  • @Robert Cartaino: I agree. Atlantis is a good example (since it is technically "hypothetical" and not just fictional). To expand my original argument, I would say that because you always capitalize specific fictional places and because you always capitalize specific real places and because hypothetical tells us that it is either real or fictional, then hypothetical places, too, should be capitalized. – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 18:15
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    Also, I would argue that "la-la land" is a fictional location and not a hypothetical one. It's only hypothetical if there exists people who hypothesize that it exists (people who don't currently reside in an insane asylum). And since it's fictional and a proper noun, it must be capitalized (just like Narnia, etc.) – Adam Mar 01 '11 at 18:22
  • @Synetech inc. , what is RPG? – Gennady Vanin Геннадий Ванин Mar 05 '11 at 19:54
  • @vgv8, role-playing-game like Dungeons & Dragons or World of Warcraft. Fantasy things like those tend to have multiple planes, dimensions, worlds, heavens, hells, etc. – Synetech Mar 05 '11 at 23:13
  • @Synetech inc., take care because most people understand RPG as "Rocket-Propelled Grenade" originating its abbreviation from similar abbreviation of Soviet РПГ(RPG) - Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт – Gennady Vanin Геннадий Ванин Mar 06 '11 at 04:31
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    @vgv8, @Synetech Inc.: Both meanings are fairly common in English (though neither is universally understood, even by native speakers). – psmears Mar 06 '11 at 07:49
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    Capitalization rules are independent of any belief. – pferor Feb 08 '12 at 12:55
  • Take care because most people understand RPG as "Rocket-Propelled Grenade" @Genady, yes, but context + common-sense/Google = no confusion. – Synetech May 11 '14 at 02:14