c - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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Superscript ⟨ᶜ⟩ is the Unicode base for superscript ⟨ᶜ̧⟩.

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

  • Pronunciation of IPA [cɑː, ɑccɑː] with the sound [c]:(file)

c (upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
  • Not to be confused with ϲ (s) (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 a number of languages, it is used only for the /tʃ/ sound.
  • 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/.

c

  1. (IPA) voiceless palatal plosive.
    May stand in for palatalized [kʲ], [tʲ], or as a more economical transcription of [t͜ʃ] or a similar ch-like sound.
  2. (NAPA, UPA) the IPA affricate [t͜s].
    Synonym: ȼ
  3. (superscript ⟨ᶜ⟩, IPA) [c]-onset (prestopping / preocclusion / preplosion), [c]-release, [c]-coloring, or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic [c].
  4. (superscript ⟨ᶜ⟩) A common rendering of the Semitic ayin, graphically resembling both Somali c and Semiticist ⟨ʿ⟩.

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 alternative 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.

c (lower case Roman numeral, upper case C)

  1. cardinal number one hundred (100).

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

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

From centi-, from Latin centum (“hundred”).

c

  1. centi-.

From Latin celeritās (“speed”).

c

  1. (physics) The speed of light, 2.99792458 × 108 m/s.
  2. (oceanography, meteorology) The speed of a fluid wave (water or air).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

c

  1. (mathematics) The space of convergent sequences.
  • Letter styles

  • Uppercase and lowercase versions of C, in normal and italic type

  • Uppercase and lowercase C in Fraktur

Other representations of C:

 
The k-rune ᚲ, an older version of Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚳ

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

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /siː/ (usually spelled cee)
Rhymes: -iː

c (lower case, upper case C, plural cs or c's)

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

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.

Various abbreviations

  1. (stenoscript) Abbreviation of see and inflections sees, seen, seeing.
    exception: saw is written s
  2. (stenoscript) the consonant /tʃ/
  3. (stenoscript) the sound sequence /siː/

c

  1. Alternative form of c.

c

  1. Alternative form of c.

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.

c

  1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of see.
    Alternative form: C

c

  1. The sixth letter of the Afar alphabet, written in the Latin script.

IPA(key): /t͡s/

c (upper case C, lower case c)

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

c lower case (upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • IPA(key): (phoneme) /k/, /s̻/

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Basque alphabet, called ze and written in the Latin script.
  • Used chiefly in recent loanwords and foreign proper nouns.
  • “c”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], Euskaltzaindia

c (uppercase C)

  1. A letter of the Bilen Latin alphabet.

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c (upper case C)

  1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.
  1. IPA(key): /t͜s/

c (no case)

  1. A letter of the Comox alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /seː/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /s/, /k/, /tʃ/
  • Rhymes: -eː

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called co and written in the Latin script.
  • IPA(key): /ˈtseː/, [ˈtseː]

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Estonian alphabet, called tsee and written in the Latin script.
  • Used only in foreign words.

c (upper case C)

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

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and c for information on the development of the glyph itself.

  • IPA(key): /ˈseː/, [ˈs̠e̞ː] (name of letter)

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Finnish alphabet, called see and written in the Latin script.
  • Used only in loanwords. In more established loanwords replaced with k or s.

German musical notation.

c

  1. (music) C (note)

Capitalized for the great octave or any octave below that, or in names of major keys; not capitalized for the small octave or any octave above that, or in names of minor keys.

singular plural
nominative c c:t
genitive c:n c:iden
c:itten
partitive c:tä c:itä
accusative c
c:n 		c:t
inessive c:ssä c:issä
elative c:stä c:istä
illative c:hen c:ihin
adessive c:llä c:illä
ablative c:ltä c:iltä
allative c:lle c:ille
essive c:nä c:inä
translative c:ksi c:iksi
abessive c:ttä c:ittä
instructive – c:in
comitative – c:ineen

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 Manche‎fr.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.

c

  1. (text messaging, Internet slang) Informal spelling of c’est

    C nul ici sans George

    It's rubbish here without George

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. A letter of the Fula alphabet, written in the Latin script.

c (upper case C)

  1. A letter of the Heiltsuk alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • (Protestant; obsolete) tz, (chiefly Catholic; archaic) cz
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): [ˈt͡s]
  • (letter name): IPA(key): [ˈt͡seː]

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The fourth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called cé and written in the Latin script.
Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)
singular plural
nominative c c-k
accusative c-t c-ket
dative c-nek c-knek
instrumental c-vel c-kkel
causal-final c-ért c-kért
translative c-vé c-kké
terminative c-ig c-kig
essive-formal c-ként c-kként
essive-modal — —
inessive c-ben c-kben
superessive c-n c-ken
adessive c-nél c-knél
illative c-be c-kbe
sublative c-re c-kre
allative c-hez c-khez
elative c-ből c-kből
delative c-ről c-kről
ablative c-től c-ktől
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		c-é c-ké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		c-éi c-kéi
Possessive forms of c
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. c-m c-im
2nd person sing. c-d c-id
3rd person sing. c-je c-i
1st person plural c-nk c-ink
2nd person plural c-tek c-itek
3rd person plural c-jük c-ik
  • (sound, letter, item, or abbreviation): c , (musical note, its symbol or key/position): c , (interjection expressing surprise or disparagement): c , (interjection for calling cats): c , (interjection for calling pigs or horses): c in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • c in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).
  • (context pronunciation) IPA(key): /ts/
  • (letter name) IPA(key): /tse/

c (upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /t͡ʃe/ (standard)
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /se/ (variant, Dutch-influenced)
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /tʃ/

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Indonesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /tse/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /k/ before 'a'/'o'/'u', /ts/ before 'i'/'e'/'y'

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c f or m (invariable, lower case, upper case C)

  1. The template Template:Latn-def does not use the parameter(s): 
    langname=Italian
    Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.    The third letter of the Italian alphabet, called ci and written in the Latin script.

Short of ちゃん (chan).

c(ちゃん) • (-chan) 

  1. (teen girl's slang) Alternative spelling of ちゃん (chan)

Borrowed from Tagalog c. Pronunciation is influenced by English c.

  • (Standard Kankanaey) IPA(key): /ˈʔej/ [ˈʔei̯]
  • Rhymes: -ej

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Kankanaey alphabet, called si and written in the Latin script.

Homophonous to si.

  • (Standard Kankanaey) IPA(key): /si/ [si̞]
  • Rhymes: -i

c

  1. (text messaging) Abbreviation of si.
  • Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2016) Ortograpiya di Kankanaëy [Kankanaey Orthography]‎[2] (in Kankanaey and Tagalog), →ISBN, pages 10-11

The Kashubian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Kashubian alphabet article on Wikipedia for more, and c for development of the glyph itself.

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The fifth letter of the Kashubian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • ⟨ts⟩ in Uʼmista orthography (standard Kwakʼwala)

c (upper case C)

  1. (Liqʼwala dialect) A letter of the Kwak'wala alphabet, written in the Latin script.

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.

 
C

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c (upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Lower Sorbian alphabet, called cej and written in the Latin script.

c

  1. The fifth letter of the Lushootseed alphabet.

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.
 
The letter C, c from the Norwegian alphabet, in two different fonts.

From Latin c, from the uppercase letter C, from Etruscan Etruscan 𐌂 (c), from Ancient Greek Γ (G, “Gamma”), from Phoenician 𐤂 (g, “gimel”).

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /seː/
  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /s/, /k/, /tʃ/, /ʃ/
  • Rhymes: -eː
  • Hyphenation: c
  • Homophones: C, se
  • Usage notes: In Norwegian, c is pronounced as /k/ before the vowel letters a, o, and u, as well as all consonants ("campus", "corner", "cue", "credo"), it is pronounced as /s/ before the vowel letters i, e, y and æ ("cicerone", "cellete", "cyste", cæsar), and rarely pronounced as /tʃ/ or /ʃ/ in some Italian loanwords ("cembalo", "ciabatta", "cello").

c (uppercase C)

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

c m (definite singular c-en, indefinite plural c-er, definite plural c-ene)

  1. the letter c, the third letter of the Norwegian alphabet
  2. indicates the third entry in a list, order or rank

    • 1857, Henrik Wergeland, Samlede Skrifter VIII, page 515:

      [jeg har] allerede sagt A. Traditionen vil nok lægge B. og C. til

      [I have] already said A. Tradition will probably add B. and C. to

    • 1939, Knut Hamsun, Artikler, page 100:

      historie er, hvad A mener til forskel fra B, og hvad C igen mener til forskel fra A og B

      history is what A means as a difference from B, and what C in turn means as a difference from A and B
  3. (music) C, c-note (the first note in the C chromatic and major scales; the lowest note of an instrument, written below the staff and the D note)
    den høye C ― high C

    • 1997, Tove Nilsen, G for Georg, page 42:

      så gal at man virkelig tror at svaler er g-nøkler og bass-nøkler og a’er og c’er som svever rundt hverandre og lager konsert i himmelen

      so crazy that you really think swallows are g-keys and bass-keys and a's and c's floating around each other and making a concert in the sky

    • 1939, Knut Hamsun, Artikler, page 100:

      [de] larmet ikke og gik ikke og tok det høie C

      [they] did not make noise and did not go and did the high C

    • 1999, Børre Qvamme, Opera, operette og ballett gjennom tidene, page 70:

      Duprez vakte sensasjon ved sine ut de poitrine, høy c tatt som brysttone

      Duprez aroused sensation by his out de poitrine, high c taken as chest tone

    • 2000, Pål Gerhard Olsen, Fredstid:

      han gjør stolen hennes tobent så hun når den høye c av forskrekkelse

      he makes her chair two-legged so she reaches the high c out of fright
  4. (grammar) Abbreviation of genus commune.
  • 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.

Abbreviation of centi- (“centi-”), from Latin centum (“hundred”), from Proto-Italic *kentom (“hundred”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm (“hundred”), from *déḱm̥ (“ten”).

c

  1. Abbreviation of centi-.

Abbreviation of cent, from English cent, from Middle English cent, from Old French cent (“one hundred”), from Latin centum (“hundred”), from Proto-Italic *kentom (“hundred”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm (“hundred”), from *déḱm̥ (“ten”).

c

  1. Abbreviation of cent.

Abbreviation of centime, from French centime, from cent (“hundred”), from Middle French cent, from Old French cent (“hundred”), from Latin centum (“hundred”), from Proto-Italic *kentom (“hundred”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm (“hundred”), from *déḱm̥ (“ten”).

c

  1. Abbreviation of centime.

Abbreviation of centavo, from Spanish centavo (from ciento, from Old Spanish) and Portuguese centavo (from cento, from Old Galician-Portuguese cento), both stemming from Latin centum (“hundred”), from Proto-Italic *kentom (“hundred”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm (“hundred”), from *déḱm̥ (“ten”).

c

  1. Abbreviation of centavo.

Abbreviation of cykel, from Ancient Greek κῠ́κλος (kúklos), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos (“circle, wheel”), from *kʷel- (“to turn”).

c

  1. (physics) Abbreviation of cykel.

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c (lowercase, uppercase c)

  1. a letter of the Old English alphabet, representing /k/ and /tʃ/

The Polish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the history of Polish orthography article on Wikipedia for more, and c for development of the glyph itself.

c (upper case C, lower case)

  1. The fourth letter of the Polish alphabet, called ce and written in the Latin script.
  • (phoneme; before a, o, u and other consonants) IPA(key): /k/
  • (phoneme; before e and i) IPA(key): /s/
  • (letter name) IPA(key): /ˈse/

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

From cê, short form of você (“you”).

c m or f by sense (plural 6)

  1. (Brazil, Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of você.
    Synonym: vc

c

  1. Abbreviation of com.

c f or m (invariable, lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Romagnol alphabet, called cé and written in the Latin script.

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • Yūsuke Sumi (2018) “C, c”, in ニューエクスプレス　ロマ（ジプシー）語 [New Express Romani (Gypsy)] (in Japanese), Tokyo: Hakusuisha, →ISBN, page 13

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The fifth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called ce or cî and written in the Latin script.

See C for pronunciation notes.

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Scottish Gaelic alphabet, written in the Latin script. It is preceded by b and followed by d. Its traditional name is coll (“hazel”).
  • C (uppercase)

c (Cyrillic spelling ц)

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

The Silesian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Silesian language article on Wikipedia for more, and c for development of the glyph itself.

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The fourth letter of the Silesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

c (upper case C)

  1. The fourth letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

From Gaj's Latin alphabet c, from Czech alphabet c, from latin c, which is a modification of upper case letter C, from Etruscan 𐌂 (c), from Ancient Greek Γ (G, “Gamma”), from Phoenician 𐤂 (g, “gimel”). Pronunciation as IPA(key): /cə/ is initial Slovene (phoneme plus a fill vowel) and the second pronunciation is probably taken from German c.

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /t͡s/, [d͡z]
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /t͡sə́/, /t͡sèː/, /t͡séː/
  • Audio (letter name, non-tonal):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ə, -eː

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  2. The fourth letter of the Slovene alphabet (Resian), written in the Latin script.
  3. The third letter of the Slovene alphabet (Natisone Valley dialect), written in the Latin script.

c

  1. (SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [t͡s].

c m inan

  1. The name of the Latin script letter C / c.
  2. (linguistics) The name of the phoneme /t͡s/.
  • Overall more common
Masculine inan., soft o-stem
nom. sing. c
gen. sing. c-ja
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik) 		c c-ja c-ji
genitive
(rodȋlnik) 		c-ja c-jev c-jev
dative
(dajȃlnik) 		c-ju c-jema c-jem
accusative
(tožȋlnik) 		c c-ja c-je
locative
(mẹ̑stnik) 		c-ju c-jih c-jih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik) 		c-jem c-jema c-ji
  • More common when with a definite adjective
Masculine inan., no endings
nom. sing. c
gen. sing. c
singular dual plural
nominative c c c
accusative c c c
genitive c c c
dative c c c
locative c c c
instrumental c c c
  • “c”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

c lower case (upper case C)

  1. The twelfth letter of the Somali alphabet, called cayn and written in the Latin script.
  • IPA(key): (phoneme, Spain) /k/ [k], /θ/ [θ]
  • IPA(key): (phoneme, Latin America, Philippines) /k/ [k], /s/ [s]
  • IPA(key): (letter name, Spain) /ˈθe/ [ˈθe]
  • IPA(key): (letter name, Latin America, Philippines) /ˈse/ [ˈse]
    • Rhymes: -e

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

See the etymology at #Translingual.

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

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c n (genitive c:s)

  1. Abbreviation of Centerpartiet (“Centre Party”).

Borrowed from Spanish c. Each pronunciation has a different source:

  • Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English c.
  • Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish c.
  • (Standard Tagalog)
    • IPA(key): /ˈsi/ [ˈsi] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
      • Rhymes: -i
    • IPA(key): /ˈse/ [ˈsɛ] (letter name, Abecedario)
      • Rhymes: -e
    • IPA(key): /k/ [k] (phoneme)
    • IPA(key): /s/ [s] (phoneme, before vowels e and i)

c (lower case, upper case C, Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒ)

  1. The third letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called si and written in the Latin script.
  2. (historical) The third letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abecedario), called ce and written in the Latin script.
  • This letter is mostly used only in Spanish-based spellings, proper nouns, or unadapted loanwords.

Borrowed from English c (cee), homophonous to si.

c (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒ)

  1. (text messaging) Abbreviation of si.
  • “c”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /d͡ʒ/
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /d͡ʒeː/

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The fifth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called xê or cờ and written in the Latin script.

c (lower case, upper case C)

  1. The third letter of the Welsh alphabet, called ec and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by b and followed by ch.
  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), chapter C, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

c (lower case, upper case C)

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