C

C is the third letter of the Roman alphabet.

In the Etruscan language, plosive consonants had no distinctive voicing, so they took over Greek Γ (Gamma) to write their /k/. In the beginning, the Romans used C for both /k/ and /g/, only later adding a horizontal bar at right-center to produce G. It is possible but uncertain that C represented only /g/ at an even earlier time, while K might have been used for /k/.

Some scholars claim that the Semitic ג (gîmel) pictured a camel. /k/ developed palatal and velar allophones in Latin, probably due to Etruscan influence. Therefore, C has many different sound values today, among them /k/ and /s/ in French, /k/ and /T/ (like English TH in THIN) in European Castilian, /T/ in Fijian, /k/ and /tS/ (like English CH) in Italian, /dZ/ in Turkish, Tatar, Azeri; /ts/ in Czech, Esperanto and so on.

Charlie represents the letter C in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

In context, C can also stand for:

• The C programming language or its derivatives C++, Objective-C, and C#.
• Vitamin C
• A musical note; see also Middle C
• A symbol for carbon in chemistry
• c is the SI prefix for centi meaning 1/100.
• The Roman numeral for 100 (centum in Latin)
• A symbol for coulomb, the SI derived unit for electric charge.
• In mathematics
  • the set of complex numbers
  • with indices: the number of combinations, a binomial coefficient.
• The speed of light, c
• The stock symbol for Citigroup
• With a bar through it and in lower case, a symbol for cent, thus: ¢.
• A standard size of dry-cell battery.
• The control grid bias power supply (originally a battery) of vacuum tube circuitry.
• "see" in SMS or instant message
• The variable for capacitance
• The length of a hypoteneuse on a right-angled triangle.
• C is the UIC classification for the railroad locomotive wheel arrangement known as 0-6-0 in the Whyte notation; a locomotive with three powered axles (and thus six wheels) in which the axles are linked by gearing or side rods.
• A "creation" initial. It is used for the company name etc. in many Japanese companies.

See also: Ç, Ĉ, ¢

Two-letter combinations starting with C:

• ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz

Referenced By