Definition
Drop cap
A drop cap is an enlarged first letter that 'drops' into the opening lines of a chapter — typically 2–3 lines tall — signaling a beginning with typographic ceremony.
Drop caps descend from illuminated manuscripts and survive as the classic opener treatment in literary and romance interiors. Done properly, the cap aligns optically with the text block and the first few words often follow in small caps. It's a detail readers register as 'a real book' without naming it.
Related tools & guides
See it handled in your own manuscript
Ceeryo sets your .docx as a book — justified and hyphenated text with widows, orphans and rivers controlled, drop caps, running heads — and shows you every spread before you pay anything.