《元照英美法词典》对“capitalization”的解释有：

表示“资本总额”，即：1公司已发行的各种证券的总价值，包括债券、普通股和优先股及盈余；2公司已发行的股票的市场价值，其计算方法为已发行股票数乘以每股的市场价格所得的总额，亦称作股票资本市值或资本市场总额（market capitalization）。

表示“资本支出的资本化”，即：把在一定期限（如一年）以后方可产生收益的资本支出视为一种资产记入资本账户，而不是将之作为在一定期间内发生的费用。

Investopedia对上述两种释义分别作出了如下描述：

In accounting, the matching principle requires companies to record expenses in the same accounting period in which the related revenue is incurred. For example, office supplies are generally expensed in the period when they are incurred since they are expected to be consumed within a short period of time. However, some larger office equipment may provide a benefit to the business over more than one accounting period.

在会计方面，配比原则要求公司在相关收入发生的会计期间记录费用。比如，办公用品通常在发生期间记入费用，因为办公用品预计将在短时间内消耗。但是，某些大型办公设备可能不止在一个会计期间为企业带来好处。

These items are fixed assets, such as computers, cars, and office buildings. The costs of these items are recorded on the general ledger as the historical cost of the asset. Therefore, these costs are said to be capitalized, not expensed.

即电脑、汽车和办公楼等固定资产。固定资产的成本作为资产的历史成本记入总分类账。因此，这些成本被资本化，并非记入费用。

Capitalized assets are not expensed in full against earnings in the current accounting period. A company can make a large purchase but expense it over many years, depending on the type of property, plant, or equipment involved.

资本化的资产不会在当前会计期间针对收益全部记入费用。公司可能会进行大量采购，但是消耗需要很多年，具体取决于房地产、工厂或设备的类型。

As the assets are used up over time to generate revenue for the company, a portion of the cost is allocated to each accounting period. This process is known as depreciation (or amortization for intangible assets).

随着资产在一段时间内消耗完为公司带来收益，部分成本会分摊给各个会计期间。这个过程就是折旧（或（就无形资产而言）摊销）。

For leased equipment, capitalization is the conversion of an operating lease to a capital lease by classifying the leased asset as a purchased asset, which is included on the balance sheet as part of the company's assets.

对于租赁设备而言，资本化就是通过将租赁资产归为购入资产，从而将经营租赁转换为资本租赁，其中购入资产列于资产负债表作为公司资产的一部分。

Another aspect of capitalization refers to the company's capital structure. Capitalization can refer to the book value cost of capital, which is the sum of a company's long-term debt, stock, and retained earnings. The alternative to the book value is the market value.

在金融领域，涉及的是公司资本结构，指资本的账面成本，即公司长期债务、股票和留存收益之和。换句话说，账面价值就是市值。

The market value cost of capital depends on the price of the company's stock. It is calculated by multiplying the price of the company’s shares by the number of shares outstanding in the market.

资本的市值成本取决于公司的股价，计算公式为公司股价乘以已发行股票数量。

If the total number of shares outstanding is 1 billion and the stock is currently priced at $10, the market capitalization is $10 billion. Companies with a high market capitalization are referred to as large caps.

如果已发行股票总数为10亿股，且当前价格为10美元，则资本市场总额为100亿美元。在英文中，资本市场总额较高的公司被称为“large cap”。

A company can be overcapitalized or undercapitalized. Undercapitalization occurs when earnings are not enough to cover the cost of capital, such as interest payments to bondholders or dividend payments to shareholders. Overcapitalization occurs when there's no need for outside capital because profits are high and earnings were underestimated.

可能会出现对公司资产估价过高或过低的情况。当收益不足以支付应向债券持有人支付的利息或因向股东支付的股息等资本成本时就是资本低估。当利润较高且低估收益时无需外部资本就是资本高估。