the.com/button cap
The tiny crown that gives your finger something satisfying to conquer.
means A button cap is the small covering or top piece that fits over a button, switch, or knob to provide a finished surface for pressing.
from A plain compound of two old workhorse words. "Button" came into English in the 1300s from Old French "boton," a thing that pushes or buds out, from a Vulgar Latin root meaning to thrust. "Cap" traces back through Old English "cæppe" to Late Latin "cappa," a hood or covering. So a "button cap" is, quite literally, the little hood that sits atop the pushing thing — each half of the name doing exactly what it says.
- Material
- Often ABS plastic for durability and cheap molding
- Tactility
- Shape engineered so fingers find it blind
- Replaceable
- Snaps off, letting one switch wear many faces
- Mechanical keyboards
- Keycaps are a whole collector hobby
- Color codes
- Red, green caps signal stop and go instantly
mushroom cloud — the distinctive shape formed by nuclear detonations, first seen at trinity test 1945
liberty cap mushroom — psilocybe semilanceata, psychoactive fungus with button-shaped fruiting body found in temperate regions