c

See also C, and Appendix:Variations of "c"

Translingual

Unicode name	LATIN SMALL LETTER C
Codepoint	U+0063
b ← Basic Latin → d

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

Modification of upper case letter C, from Etruscan 𐌂 (C), from Greek Γ (G, “Gamma”), from Phoenician 𐤂 (G, “gimmel”).

Pronunciation

• (IPA symbol)

  IPA

  (file)

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with ϲ (the lunate sigma).
• In many languages, the letter c represents both a “hard” /k/ sound and a “soft” sound (/s/, /ts/, /tʃ/, or /θ/), based on the following letter.
• In many languages, it occurs frequently in the digraph with ch.
• In some romanization systems of non-Latin scripts, it represents /tʃ/, /θ/, or /tsʰ/.

See also

• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Ss  Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  Zz
• (Variations of letter C):  Ćć  Ĉĉ  Čč  Ċċ  C̄c̄  Çç  Ḉḉ  Ȼȼ  Ƈƈ  ɕ  ᴄ  Ｃｃ  ct
• Other scripts: ‎г ‎(g, “ge”)‎, ‎ג ‎(g, “gimel”)‎, ʗ
• Letters and symbols with similar shapes: Ɔ (open O), ‎с ‎(s, “es”)‎
• For more variations, see Appendix:Variations of "c".
• Appendix:Roman script
• C on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Symbol

Wikipedia

c

1. (IPA) voiceless palatal plosive.

Etymology 2

Lower case form of upper case roman numeral C, a standardization of Ɔ and C because the latter happens to be an abbreviation of Latin centum (“hundred”), from abbreviation of ƆIC, an alternate form of >I<, from tally stick markings resembling Ж (a superimposed X and I), from the practice of designating each tenth X notch with an extra cut.

Alternative forms

• C, Ⅽ, ⅽ

Numeral

c (lower case Roman numeral, upper case C)

1. cardinal number one hundred (100).

Usage notes

With a bar over the numeral, i.e., as c, it represents one hundred thousand.

Derived terms

• English: c-note

See also

• Lesser roman numeral symbol: ‎l ‎(“50”)‎
• Greater roman numeral symbol: ‎d ‎(“500”)‎
• Roman numerals

Etymology 3

From Latin celeritās (“speed”).

Symbol

c

1. (physics) The speed of light, 2.99792458 × 10⁸ m/s.

See also

Other representations of C:

• Letter styles
• 

  Capital and lowercase versions of B, in normal and italic type

• 

  Uppercase and lowercase C in Fraktur

---

English

Etymology 1

Old English lower case letter c, from 7th century replacement by Latin lower case c of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚳ (c, “cen”).

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA: /siː/ (usually spelled cee)
• (phoneme): IPA: /k/, /s/, ...

Audio (UK)

(file)

Audio (US)

(file)

Letter

c lowercase (uppercase C)

1. The third letter of the English alphabet, called cee and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin script letters) letter; Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz

Number

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The ordinal number third, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called cee and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Various abbreviations

Abbreviation

c

1. Alternative form of c..

Etymology 3

Noun

c (plural cs or c's)

1. (music) The middle tone in either one of the sets of seven white keys on a keyboard or a set of seven strings on a stringed instrument.

Etymology 4

From the symbol c, which is from Latin celeritās (“speed”).

Noun

c (plural c)

1. (physics) The speed of light as a unit of speed, exactly 2.99792458 × 10⁸ m/s.

---

Azeri

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the Azeri alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin script letters) hərf; Aa, Bb, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Əə, Ff, Gg, Ğğ, Hh, Xx, Iı, İi, Jj, Kk, Qq, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Üü, Vv, Yy, Zz

---

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA: /se/

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the Catalan alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin script letters) alfabet català; Aa, Bb, Cc, (Çç), Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, (L·Ll·l), Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eː
• (letter name): IPA: /seː/

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the Dutch alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin script letters) letter; Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz

---

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA: /tso/
• (phoneme): IPA: /ts/

• Audio

  (file)

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called co or ce and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin script letters) litero; Aa, Bb, Cc, Ĉĉ, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Ĝĝ, Hh, Ĥĥ, Ii, Jj, Ĵĵ, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, Ŝŝ, Tt, Uu, Ŭŭ, Vv, Zz

---

French

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the French alphabet, written in the Latin script.
   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter I:

     Avec ces propos et d’autres semblables, le pauvre gentilhomme perdait le jugement. Il passait les nuits et se donnait la torture pour les comprendre, pour les approfondir, pour leur tirer le sens des entrailles, ce qu’Aristote lui-même n’aurait pu faire, s’il fût ressuscité tout exprès pour cela.

     With these passages and other similar ones, the poor gentleman lost his judgement. He spent his nights and tortured himself to understand them, to consider them more deeply, to take from them their deepest meaning, which Aristotle himself would not have been able to do, had he been resurrected for that very purpose.

Abbreviation

c

1. (text messaging) Informal spelling of c'est

   C nul ici sans George

   It's rubbish here without George

---

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA: /tse/
• (phoneme): IPA: /k/ before 'a'/'o'/'u', /ts/ before 'i'/'e'/'y'

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the Interlingua alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• Previous letter: b
• Next letter: d

---

Italian

Noun

c m and f (invariable)

1. See under C

---

Latvian

Wikipedia ^lv

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ts]

Letter

C

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The fourth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called cē and written in the Latin script.

See also

• Letters of the Latvian alphabet:

  burti: Aa, Āā, Bb, Cc, Čč, Dd, Ee, Ēē, Ff, Gg, Ģģ, Hh, Ii, Īī, Jj, Kk, Ķķ, Ll, Ļļ, Mm, Nn, Ņņ, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, Šš, Tt, Uu, Ūū, Vv, Zz, Žž

---

Malay

Letter

c

1. The third letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin script letters) Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz

---

Norwegian

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA: /seː/
• (phoneme): IPA: /k/, /s/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: se

Letter

c

1. The 3rd letter of the Norwegian alphabet.

Usage notes

• Only used in words of foreign origin, usually English. Even rare in loanwords, as this letter does not represent a sound of its own.
• Still kept in many Christian names, therefore Caroline and Karoline are both acceptable spellings.

---

Romanian

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA: /tʃe/
• (phoneme): IPA: /k/ and IPA: /tʃ/

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The fifth letter of the Romanian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

See C for pronunciation notes

See also

• (Latin script letters) Aa, Ăă, Ââ, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Îî, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Ţţ, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz

---

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• (uppercase): C

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA: /ts/

Letter

c (Cyrillic spelling ц)

1. The 3rd letter of the Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet (gajica), preceded by b and followed by č.

---

Somali

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The twelfth letter of the Somali alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

See C for pronunciation notes

---

Spanish

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the Spanish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

---

Swedish

Abbreviation

c

1. Centre Party; Abbreviation of Centerpartiet.

---

Turkish

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA: /dʒɛː/
• (phoneme): IPA: /dʒ/

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

1. The third letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ce and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin script letters) harf; Aa, Bb, Cc, Çç, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Ğğ, Hh, Iı, İi, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Üü, Vv, Yy, Zz