A caption is a brief textual label attached to an image, diagram, figure, or media object that identifies or describes its content for the viewer. It is a paratextual device: positioned adjacent to its referent, it anchors interpretation by naming what is shown, providing context the image alone cannot supply, and bridging the gap between visual content and the viewer's understanding. Its persistence mechanism is print and digital publishing — embedded in books, newspapers, websites, and social media feeds, it travels with the image as an inseparable interpretive frame.\n\n[formal: caption | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
caption
A caption is a brief textual label attached to an image, diagram, figure, or media object that identifies or describes its content for the viewer. It is a paratextual device: positioned adjacent to its referent, it anchors interpretation b…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made textual label attached to an image, figure, or visual element, designed to identify, describe, or contextualize that element for a reader. Built to persist through publication and display conventions.
Names and aliases
- captionen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrpfluep072gd1nln9e09s60INSTANCE_OF →
caption IS a specific kind of annotation: a brief textual label attached to media that identifies or describes its content. A competent speaker would call a caption 'an annotation' — it annotates the image/video with interpretive text.
- cmrmpzbzj019yd1nlk7u50r8vSERVES →
Caption SERVES interpretation: its designed purpose is to provide textual context that enables the viewer to interpret and understand media content. Law 8d: caption (servant) → interpretation (master). Not incidental benefit — the caption is explicitly authored to serve this function.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 29, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 4c5dee01d9b4241e8a80d150f7020a02f85208bfd79dc74b66c3f78e42b9fc3b