Cap vs. Pinner — What's the Difference?
By Fiza Rafique & Maham Liaqat — Updated on May 7, 2024
A cap is a form of headgear that typically features a visor, used mainly for sun protection or as a fashion accessory, whereas a pinner is a historical small bonnet with pinned-up fabric, worn mainly by women for modesty or style.
Difference Between Cap and Pinner
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A cap is commonly made from materials like cotton, polyester, or wool, making it durable and suitable for casual wear or sports. On the other hand, a pinner was traditionally crafted from lightweight materials such as silk or fine cotton, emphasizing its decorative rather than functional purpose.
Caps are designed with a peak or brim, which serves to shield the eyes from the sun. Whereas, pinners often featured no brim but instead had lace or ribbon edges that framed the face and added to the wearer's aesthetic appeal.
In modern times, caps are popular worldwide among all genders and ages, used for both practical purposes and as a fashion statement. Conversely, pinners are now mostly seen in historical reenactments or period films, reflecting their role as a dated fashion item.
The design of caps includes a variety of styles such as snapbacks, baseball caps, and bucket hats, each catering to different tastes and needs. In contrast, pinners were relatively uniform in design, primarily differing in the type of embellishments or the fineness of the fabric.
Caps often feature logos or designs that represent sports teams, brands, or cultural icons, making them a medium for personal expression. On the other hand, pinners were typically plain or featured delicate embroidery that complemented the wearer's outfit without making a bold statement.
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Comparison Chart
Material
Cotton, polyester, wool
Silk, fine cotton
Purpose
Sun protection, fashion
Modesty, fashion in historical context
Design Variability
High (snapbacks, baseball, bucket)
Low (uniform with variations in embellishment)
Gender Usage
All genders
Primarily women
Visibility in Modern Times
Commonly worn today
Rare, mostly in historical settings
Compare with Definitions
Cap
A head covering with a visor, often worn outdoors.
He wore a cap to protect his eyes from the sun.
Pinner
Often decorated with lace or ribbon.
She chose a pinner with pearl embroidery for her wedding day.
Cap
An upper limit on spending, borrowing, or cost.
The league set a salary cap to ensure fair competition.
Pinner
Historically, a term for a type of women's headwear.
The portrait showed a lady wearing a delicate pinner.
Cap
A limit set on expenditures or prices.
The government imposed a cap on gasoline prices.
Pinner
A small bonnet worn pinned onto the hair, typical of earlier centuries.
She wore a lace pinner to the Victorian fair.
Cap
Informally, the top part or top position of something.
His achievement was the cap on a successful career.
Pinner
Reflective of modest fashion in historical contexts.
Her costume included a pinner to match the period accuracy.
Cap
A cap is a kind of soft and flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head.
Pinner
Used for style rather than functionality.
The pinner added a touch of elegance to her outfit.
Cap
A kind of soft, flat hat without a brim and typically with a peak
A man wearing a raincoat and a flat cap
Her cap of dark hair
Pinner
Agent noun of pin; one who pins.
Cap
A protective lid or cover for an object such as a bottle, the point of a pen, or a camera lens
A glass bottle with a screw cap
A lens cap from a camera
Pinner
A headdress like a cap, with long lappets.
Cap
An upper limit imposed on spending or borrowing
He raised the cap on local authority spending
Pinner
A cloth band for a gown.
Cap
A contraceptive diaphragm.
Pinner
(obsolete) One who pins or impounds cattle; a pinder.
Cap
The broad upper part of the fruiting body of most mushrooms and toadstools, at the top of a stem and bearing gills or pores.
Pinner
One who, or that which, pins or fastens, as with pins.
Cap
Short for percussion cap
Pinner
A headdress like a cap, with long lappets.
With kerchief starched, and pinners clean.
Cap
Short for capitalization
Small-cap stocks
Mid-cap companies
Pinner
A pin maker.
Cap
Put a lid or cover on
He capped his pen
Pinner
A woman's cap with two long flaps pinned on
Cap
Provide a fitting climax or conclusion to
He capped a memorable season by becoming champion of champions
Cap
Place a limit or restriction on (prices, expenditure, or borrowing)
Council budgets will be capped
Cap
Be chosen as a member of a particular sports team, especially a national one
He was capped ten times by England
Cap
Confer a university degree on.
Cap
A usually soft and close-fitting head covering, either having no brim or with a visor.
Cap
A special head covering worn to indicate rank, occupation, or membership in a particular group
A cardinal's cap.
A sailor's cap.
Cap
An academic mortarboard. Used especially in the phrase cap and gown.
Cap
A protective cover or seal, especially one that closes off an end or a tip
A bottle cap.
A 35-millimeter lens cap.
Cap
A crown for covering or sealing a tooth.
Cap
A truck cap.
Cap
A tread for a worn pneumatic tire.
Cap
A fitted covering used to seal a well or large pipe.
Cap
Chiefly Southern US See eye.
Cap
A summit or top, as of a mountain.
Cap
An upper limit; a ceiling
Placed a cap on mortgage rates.
Cap
(Architecture) The capital of a column.
Cap
The top part, or pileus, of a mushroom.
Cap
A calyptra.
Cap
A percussion cap.
Cap
A small explosive charge enclosed in paper for use in a toy gun.
Cap
Any of several sizes of writing paper, such as foolscap.
Cap
(Sports) An appearance by a player in an international soccer game, traditionally rewarded with a hat.
Cap
A capital letter.
Cap
Capital
Venture cap.
Cap
Capitalization
Market cap.
Cap
To cover, protect, or seal with a cap.
Cap
To award a special cap to as a sign of rank or achievement
Capped the new women nurses at graduation.
Cap
To lie over or on top of; cover
Hills capped with snow.
Cap
To apply the finishing touch to; complete
Cap a meal with dessert.
Cap
To follow with something better; surpass or outdo
Capped his last trick with a disappearing act that brought the audience to its feet.
Cap
To set an upper limit on
Decided to cap cost-of-living increases.
Cap
To capitalize.
Cap
A close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked.
The children were all wearing caps to protect them from the sun.
Cap
A special hat to indicate rank, occupation, etc.
Cap
An academic mortarboard.
Cap
A protective cover or seal.
He took the cap off the bottle and splashed himself with some cologne.
Cap
A crown for covering a tooth.
He had golden caps on his teeth.
Cap
The summit of a mountain, etc.
There was snow on the cap of the mountain.
Cap
An artificial upper limit or ceiling.
We should put a cap on the salaries, to keep them under control.
Cap
The top part of a mushroom.
Cap
(toy) A small amount of percussive explosive in a paper strip or plastic cup for use in a toy gun.
Billy spent all morning firing caps with his friends, re-enacting storming the beach at Normandy.
Cap
A small explosive device used to detonate a larger charge of explosives.
He wired the cap to the bundle of dynamite, then detonated it remotely.
Cap
(slang) A bullet used to shoot someone.
Cap
A lie or exaggeration.
No cap
Cap
(sport) A place on a national team; an international appearance.
Cap
(obsolete) The top, or uppermost part; the chief.
Cap
(obsolete) A respectful uncovering of the head.
Cap
(zoology) The whole top of the head of a bird from the base of the bill to the nape of the neck.
Cap
(architecture) The uppermost of any assemblage of parts.
The cap of column, door, etc.; a capital, coping, cornice, lintel, or plate
Cap
Something covering the top or end of a thing for protection or ornament.
Cap
(nautical) A collar of iron or wood used in joining spars, as the mast and the topmast, the bowsprit and the jib boom; also, a covering of tarred canvas at the end of a rope.
Cap
(geometry) A portion of a spherical or other convex surface.
Cap
A large size of writing paper.
Flat cap; foolscap; legal cap
Cap
(finance) Capitalization.
Cap
(informal) An uppercase or capital letter.
Cap
(electronics) A capacitor.
Parasitic caps.
I had to replace the caps in that thing to get it to work again.
Cap
(colloquial) A recording or screenshot.
Anyone have a cap of the games last night?
Cap
(slang) A capsule of a drug.
Cap
(colloquial) A capitalist.
Cap
Capillary
Cap
(obsolete) A wooden drinking-bowl with two handles.
Cap
(transitive) To cover or seal with a cap.
Cap
(transitive) To award a cap as a mark of distinction.
Cap
(transitive) To lie over or on top of something.
Cap
(transitive) To surpass or outdo.
Cap
(transitive) To set an upper limit on something.
Cap wages.
Cap
(transitive) To make something even more wonderful at the end.
That really capped my day.
Cap
To select a player to play for a specified side.
Cap
To shoot (someone) with a firearm.
If he don't get outta my hood, I'm gonna cap his ass.
In a school shooting, where some kid caps a bunch of other kids, where did he get the weapon? From a family member, probably their gun cabinet.
Cap
To lie; to tell a lie.
Cap
To select to play for the national team.
Peter Shilton is the most capped English footballer.
Cap
To salute by uncovering the head respectfully.
Cap
To deprive of a cap.
Cap
To convert text to uppercase.
Cap
(transitive) To take a screenshot or to record a copy of a video.
Cap
A covering for the head
Cap
The top, or uppermost part; the chief.
Thou art the cap of all the fools alive.
Cap
A respectful uncovering of the head.
He that will give a cap and make a leg in thanks.
Cap
The whole top of the head of a bird from the base of the bill to the nape of the neck.
Cap
Anything resembling a cap in form, position, or use
Cap
A large size of writing paper; as, flat cap; foolscap; legal cap.
Cap
To cover with a cap, or as with a cap; to provide with a cap or cover; to cover the top or end of; to place a cap upon the proper part of; as, to cap a post; to cap a gun.
The bones next the joint are capped with a smooth cartilaginous substance.
Cap
To deprive of cap.
Cap
To complete; to crown; to bring to the highest point or consummation; as, to cap the climax of absurdity.
Cap
To salute by removing the cap.
Tom . . . capped the proctor with the profoundest of bows.
Cap
To match; to mate in contest; to furnish a complement to; as, to cap text; to cap proverbs.
Now I have him under girdle I'll cap verses with him to the end of the chapter.
Cap
To uncover the head respectfully.
Cap
A tight-fitting headdress
Cap
A top (as for a bottle)
Cap
A mechanical or electrical explosive device or a small amount of explosive; can be used to initiate the reaction of a disrupting explosive
Cap
Something serving as a cover or protection
Cap
A fruiting structure resembling an umbrella that forms the top of a stalked fleshy fungus such as a mushroom
Cap
An upper limit on what is allowed;
They established a cap for prices
Cap
Dental appliance consisting of an artificial crown for a tooth
Cap
The upper part of a column that supports the entablature
Cap
Lie at the top of;
Snow capped the mountains
Cap
Restrict the number or amount of;
We had to cap the number of people we can accept into our club
Common Curiosities
What is a cap used for?
A cap is often used for protection against the sun and as a fashion accessory.
Who typically wears a pinner?
Historically, pinners were worn by women as part of their day-to-day attire.
How are caps and pinners similar?
Both can serve as fashion statements, reflecting the wearer's style.
Are pinners still used today?
Pinners are rarely worn today, except in historical reenactments or period films.
Are pinners adjustable like some modern caps?
No, pinners were not designed to be adjustable but were pinned to fit securely.
What types of caps are popular today?
Popular types include baseball caps, snapbacks, and bucket hats.
How has the role of caps evolved over time?
Caps have evolved from simple protective wear to important fashion items with broad cultural significance.
What are common materials used to make caps?
Caps are commonly made from materials like cotton, polyester, and wool.
How do the purposes of caps and pinners differ?
Caps are versatile for practical and fashion purposes today, while pinners were primarily worn for modesty and style in historical times.
Did pinners serve any protective purpose?
Pinners did not serve a protective purpose like caps but were more for aesthetic appeal.
What is the main difference between a cap and a pinner in terms of construction?
Caps often have a visor or brim for sun protection, whereas pinners do not.
Can a pinner be considered a practical item in today’s fashion?
In contemporary fashion, pinners are not considered practical but are valued for their historical and aesthetic qualities.
Are there any professional uses for caps?
Yes, caps are often part of uniforms in sports and certain professions.
How do the materials of caps and pinners affect their durability?
Caps made from materials like polyester are durable and suitable for outdoor use, whereas the finer materials of pinners were more delicate.
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Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
