C

C (minuscule: c) is the third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is cee (pronounced /ˈsiː/ ^ⓘ), plural cees.

This article talks about the letter C. If you are looking for information about the C programming language or other uses of the letter C, you can find them in different articles. Sometimes, for technical reasons, "C#" and ":C" will lead you to this page, but they have their own special meanings too, like C-sharp or symbols on a keyboard found in the List of emoticons.

History

The letter "C" has an interesting history. It comes from the same original letter as "G". The ancient Semites called this letter gimel. It might have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for a staff sling or perhaps showed a camel, whose Semitic name was gamal.

In the early days of the Latin alphabet, the letters "c", "k", and "q" were all used to show the same sounds. Over time, "c" was kept to show one specific sound, while a new letter "g" was created for another. This is why today we use "c" and "g" separately. Later, when the Romans brought their alphabet to other places, the letter "c" took on different sounds depending on what letter came after it. This tradition continued into modern languages, including English.

Use in writing systems

See also: Hard and soft C

English

In English, the letter c usually makes the /s/ sound before the letters e, i, and y, and the /k/ sound before other letters or at the end of a word. There are exceptions, like in the words "soccer", "celt", and "sceptic", where it makes the /k/ sound even when we might expect /s/. The c can also make the /ʃ/ sound in words like "delicious" and "appreciate," especially when followed by the letter i.

The combination ch most often makes the /tʃ/ sound, but it can also make the /k/ sound in words from Greek or the /ʃ/ sound in words from French. In some dialects, ch can make the /x/ sound, as in the word "loch." The combination ck is often used to show the /k/ sound after short vowels, like in the word "wicket."

C is the twelfth most frequently used letter in the English language, making up about 2.8% of all letters used.

Other languages

In many Romance languages like French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Catalan, and Portuguese, c usually makes the /k/ sound and a softer sound that changes depending on the language. In French, Portuguese, Catalan, and some types of Spanish, the soft c makes the /s/ sound. In most of Spain’s Spanish, it makes a special /θ/ sound. In Italian and Romanian, the soft c makes the /t͡ʃ/ sound.

Germanic languages often use c in borrowed words or in combinations like ch and ck, but rules differ. Only English uses c at the start of its own words, like in "come." Dutch uses c the most for borrowed words and in ch. German uses c in ch, ck, and sch, but alone only in foreign words and names. Danish keeps the soft c in borrowed words but changes hard c to k. Swedish follows similar rules and uses c in ck and in the common word "och," meaning "and." Norwegian, Afrikaans, and Icelandic mostly replace c with k or s, saving c for foreign words and names.

Many languages that use the Latin alphabet, like Balto-Slavic languages, Albanian, Hungarian, Pashto, several Sami languages, Esperanto, Ido, Interlingua, and Americanist phonetic notation, use c for the /t͡s/ sound. In Hanyu Pinyin, the system for writing Mandarin Chinese, c represents an aspirated version of this sound, /t͡s^h/.

In non-European languages using the Latin alphabet, c represents many different sounds. In Yup'ik, Indonesian, Malay, and some African languages like Hausa, Fula, and Manding, c makes the /t͡ʃ/ sound. In Azeri, Crimean Tatar, Kurmanji Kurdish, and Turkish, it makes the /d͡ʒ/ sound. In Yabem and similar languages, c stands for the /ʔ/ sound. Xhosa and Zulu use c for a click sound /ǀ/. In some African languages like Berber languages, c makes the /ʃ/ sound. In Fijian, it makes the /ð/ sound, while in Somali, it makes the /ʕ/ sound.

The letter c is also used to represent the Cyrillic letter ц in the Latin versions of Serbian, Macedonian, and sometimes Ukrainian, along with the combination ts.

Other systems

As a phonetic symbol, the lowercase c is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA to show the /voiceless palatal plosive/, and the uppercase C is the X-SAMPA symbol for the /voiceless palatal fricative/.

Digraphs

There are several common combinations with c, the most common being ch, which in some languages like German is used far more than c alone. ch can have different sounds in other languages.

As in English, ck, making the /k/ sound, is often used after short vowels in other Germanic languages like German and Swedish. Other Germanic languages like Dutch and Norwegian use kk instead. The combination cz is found in Polish and cs in Hungarian, making /t͡ʂ/ and /t͡ʃ/ sounds respectively. The combination sc makes the /ʃ/ sound in Old English, Italian, and some Italian-related languages (only before front vowels), while otherwise it makes the /sk/ sound. The combination sch makes the /ʃ/ sound in German.

Other uses

In the hexadecimal (base 16) numbering system, C stands for the number 12 in our usual decimal (base 10) counting. In the Roman numeral system, C represents the number 100. The unit prefix c means one hundredth.

Related characters

Ancestors, descendants and siblings

The letter C has many related symbols and letters. It comes from the ancient Semitic letter Gimel. In the Greek alphabet, it evolved into the letter Gamma, which later helped create the Latin letter C. From C, we also get the Latin letter G.

There are many special symbols related to C used in different languages and phonetic studies. Some examples include small c with curls, stretched c shapes, and letters with hooks. These symbols help describe sounds in languages like Khoekhoe and Chatino in Mexico. The letter C can also have extra marks added to it, called diacritics, to change its meaning in languages such as Mandarin Chinese.

Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols

The letter C is also used in many symbols and signs. For example, © stands for the copyright symbol, °C means degree Celsius, and ¢ represents the cent. Other symbols using C include currency signs like ₡ for the colón (currency) and ₵ for the Ghana cedi (currency). In mathematics, blackboard bold C stands for the complex numbers. There are also old-style letters and abbreviations that use C, like medieval short forms for Latin and Portuguese words.

Other representations

The letters C and c have special codes used in computers, just like secret numbers that tell computers what symbol to show. These codes are the same whether you use a simple computer language or a more advanced one.

There are also special codes for C and c when they have marks added to them, like hats or dots. Some versions of the letter C have their own unique codes for use in math, science, or when writing certain sounds. Even the Russian letter that looks like C has its own special code.