kapsylä

Kapsylä is a Finnish noun that refers to the closure used to seal a bottle, most commonly a metal crown cap on beverages such as beer and soft drinks. In everyday language, kapsylä describes the cap itself and the sealed end of the bottle, rather than the contents. The term is widely used in discussion of packaging, bottling processes, and recycling.

In practice, kapsylä covers various kinds of bottle closures. Traditional metal caps are crimped onto the neck of a glass bottle and are removed with a bottle opener. Modern bottles may use plastic caps or screw caps, but in Finnish usage kapsylä is still used as a general term for the cap component. The materials most often involved are steel or aluminum, sometimes with a plastic or polymer liner to improve sealing.

Production and disposal practices vary by region, but kapsylät are typically designed for one-time use and are recycled where facilities allow. Metal caps are commonly separated from bottles at sorting streams because they can be recycled as metal. In cultural contexts, bottle caps have appeared in art, crafts, and collecting hobbyists, reflecting their ubiquity in everyday consumption.

Etymology-wise, kapsylä is derived from kapseli (capsule) with a Finnish diminutive suffix, yielding a word that has become standard in general Finnish. See also: bottle cap, crown cap, screw cap.