c - synonyms, antonyms, definitions

c

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of c in English

English Online Dictionary. What means c‎? What does c mean?

Translingual

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

(IPA symbol)

Letter

c (upper case C)

The third letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Usage notes

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/.

Symbol

(IPA) voiceless palatal plosive.
May stand in for palatalized [kʲ], [tʲ], or as a more economical transcription of [t͡ʃ] or a similar ch-like sound.

(superscript ⟨ᶜ⟩) [c]-onset (prestopping / preocclusion / preplosion), [c]-release, [c]-coloring, or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic [c].
(NAPA) the IPA affricate [t͡s].
Synonym: ȼ
(superscript ⟨ᶜ⟩) A common ad hoc convention for the sound of Semitic ayin, resembling both Somali c and Semiticist ⟨ʿ⟩.

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, LL, ll, Ↄ, ↄ, ƆIC, Ж, >I<

Numeral

c (lower case Roman numeral, upper case C)

cardinal number one hundred (100).

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

English: c-note

Etymology 3

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

Symbol

centi-.

Etymology 4

From Latin celeritās (“speed”).

Symbol

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

Etymology 5

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

Symbol

(mathematics) The space of convergent sequences.

Gallery

Letter styles

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^(key): /siː/ (usually spelled cee)

Rhymes: -iː

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /k/, /s/, /tʃ/, ...
Usage notes: In English, c is usually pronounced as /k/ ("crack", "climb", "clone"), sometimes pronounced as /s/ ("cereal", "celebrity", "citron"), and rarely pronounced as /tʃ/ ("ciao", "cello", "vermicelli"). Sometimes c is pronounced as /tʃ/ due to English words that came from Italian. (Italian has a rule that states that c before i or e is pronounced as /tʃ/.[1])

Letter

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

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

Number

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Various abbreviations

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

Adverb

Alternative form of c.

Noun

Alternative form of c.

Etymology 3

Noun

c (plural cs or c's)

(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

Verb

(Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of see; also C.

Afar

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ħ/

Letter

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

Albanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡s/

Letter

c (upper case C, lower case c)

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

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒ/
IPA^(key): /d͡z/

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

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

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (phoneme) /k/, /s̻/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

The third letter of the Basque alphabet, called ze and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used chiefly in recent loanwords and foreign proper nouns.

Bilen

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʕ/

Letter

c (uppercase C)

A letter of the Bilen Latin alphabet.

Catalan

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /se/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /k/, /s/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Comox

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͜s/

Letter

c (upper case C)

A letter of the Comox alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Dutch

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /seː/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /s/, /k/, /tʃ/
Rhymes: -eː

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Esperanto

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /tso/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ts/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Estonian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtseː/, [ˈtseː]

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

The third letter of the Estonian alphabet, called tsee and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used only in foreign words.

Fijian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /ð/

Letter

c (upper case C)

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

Finnish

Etymology 1

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on Swedish, German and Latin. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and c for development of the glyph itself.

Pronunciation

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

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

The third letter of the Finnish alphabet, called see and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used only in loanwords. In more established loanwords replaced with k or s.

Etymology 2

German musical notation.

Noun

(music) C (note)

Usage notes

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.

Declension

French

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /se/
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /k/, /s/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Contraction

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

Fula

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /tʃ/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Usage notes

Common to all varieties of Fula (Fulfulde / Pulaar / Pular).

Hungarian

Alternative forms

(Protestant; obsolete) tz, (chiefly Catholic; archaic) cz

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈt͡s]
(letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈt͡seː]

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

The fourth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called cé and written in the Latin script.

Declension

Derived terms

c-moll

Ido

Pronunciation

(context pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ts/
(letter name) IPA^(key): /tse/

Letter

c (upper case C)

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

Indonesian

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /t͡ʃe/ (standard)
(letter name): IPA^(key): /se/ (variant, Dutch-influenced)
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /tʃ/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Interlingua

Pronunciation

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

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Italian

Letter

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

The third letter of the Italian alphabet, called ci and written in the Latin script.

Japanese

Alternative forms

©️(ちゃん)

Etymology

Short of ちゃん (chan).

Suffix

c(ちゃん) • (-chan)

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

Related terms

s(さん) (san)

Kashubian

Etymology

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.

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Kwakʼwala

Alternative forms

⟨ts⟩ in Uʼmista orthography (standard Kwakʼwala)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͜s/

Letter

c (upper case C)

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

Latvian

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

(phoneme) IPA^(key): [ts]

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡s/

Letter

c (upper case C)

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

Lushootseed

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡s/

Letter

The fifth letter of the Lushootseed alphabet.

Malay

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /tʃ/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

(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").

Letter

c (uppercase C)

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

Noun

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

the letter c, the third letter of the Norwegian alphabet
indicates the third entry in a list, order or rank
(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
(grammar) Abbreviation of genus commune.

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.

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/, /ˈsɛntɪ/
Rhymes: -eː, -ɛntɪ
Hyphenation: c
Homophones: C, se, centi-

Symbol

Abbreviation of centi-.

Etymology 3

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”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/, /sɛnt/
Rhymes: -eː, -ɛnt
Hyphenation: c
Homophones: C, se, cent, sendt

Symbol

Abbreviation of cent.

Etymology 4

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”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/, /saŋˈtiːm/
Rhymes: -eː, -iːm
Hyphenation: c
Homophones: C, se, centime

Symbol

Abbreviation of centime.

Etymology 5

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”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/, /sɛnˈtɑːʋʊ/
Rhymes: -eː, -ɑːʋʊ
Hyphenation: c
Homophones: C, se, centavo

Symbol

Abbreviation of centavo.

Etymology 6

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/, /ˈsyːkəl/
Rhymes: -eː, -əl
Hyphenation: c
Homophones: C, cykel

Symbol

(physics) Abbreviation of cykel.

References

“c” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
“c” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
“C (Bokstav)” in Store norske leksikon
“C (Forkortelse)” in Store norske leksikon
“C (Tone)” in Store norske leksikon
“C (Mynter)” in Store norske leksikon

Anagrams

Nupe

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /t͡ʃ/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Polish

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡s/, or IPA^(key): /d͡z/ if voiced

Letter

c (upper case C, lower case)

The fourth letter of the Polish alphabet, called ce and written in the Latin script.

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

(phoneme; before a, o, u and other consonants) IPA^(key): /k/
(phoneme; before e and i) IPA^(key): /s/
(letter name) IPA^(key): /ˈse/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Etymology 2

From cê, short form of você (“you”).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

c m or f by sense (plural 6)

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

Etymology 3

Preposition

Abbreviation of com.

Romagnol

Letter

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

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

Romani

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /t͡s/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

References

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

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /k/, /tʃ/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Usage notes

See C for pronunciation notes.

Silesian

Etymology

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.

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

C (uppercase)

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /t͡s/

Letter

c (Cyrillic spelling ц)

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

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /t͡s/

Letter

c (upper case C)

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

Slovene

Alternative forms

ƞ (Metelko alphabet)
z (Bohorič alphabet)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /t͡s/, [d͡z]
(letter name): IPA^(key): /t͡sə́/, /t͡sèː/, /t͡séː/
Rhymes: -ə, -eː

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

The third letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The fourth letter of the Resian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The third letter of the Natisone Valley dialect alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Symbol

(SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [t͡s].

Noun

c m inan

The name of the Latin script letter C / c.
(linguistics) The name of the phoneme /t͡s/.

Inflection

Overall more common

More common when with a definite adjective

Derived terms

Somali

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʕ/

Letter

c lower case (upper case C)

The twelfth letter of the Somali alphabet, called cayn and written in the Latin script.

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (phoneme, Spain) /k/ [k], /θ/ [θ]
IPA^(key): (phoneme, Latin America) /k/ [k], /s/ [s]
IPA^(key): (letter name, Spain) /ˈθe/ [ˈθe]
IPA^(key): (letter name, Latin America) /ˈse/ [ˈse]
- Rhymes: -e

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Swedish

Etymology 1

See the etymology at #Translingual.

Pronunciation

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

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /seː/

Proper noun

c n (genitive c:s)

Abbreviation of Centerpartiet (“Centre Party”).

Alternative forms

Tagalog

Etymology 1

From Spanish c. Each pronunciation has a different source:

Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English c.
Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish c.

Pronunciation

Hyphenation: c
(letter name, Filipino alphabet): IPA^(key): /si/, [sɪ]
(letter name, Abecedario): IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈsɛ]
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /k/, [k]
(phoneme, before vowels e and i): IPA^(key): /s/, [s]
Rhymes: -i, -e

Letter

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

The third letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Filipino alphabet), called si and written in the Latin script.
(historical) The third letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Abecedario), called ce and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

This letter is mostly used only in Spanish-based spellings, proper nouns, or unadapted loanwords.

Etymology 2

From English c (cee), homophonous to si.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /si/, [sɪ]

Particle

c (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒ)

(text messaging) Alternative spelling of si

Turkish

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /d͡ʒ/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /d͡ʒeː/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

Welsh

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /ɛk/
- (informal) IPA^(key): /kə/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

The third letter of the Welsh alphabet, called ec and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by b and followed by ch.

Mutation

c at the beginning of words mutates to g in a soft mutation, to ngh in a nasal mutation and to ch in an aspirate mutation, for example with the word cath (“cat”):

Zulu

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /ǀ/

Letter

c (lower case, upper case C)

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

c

c

Translingual

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter

Usage notes

See also

Symbol

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Numeral

Usage notes

Derived terms

See also

Etymology 3

Symbol

Etymology 4

Symbol

Etymology 5

Symbol

Gallery

See also

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter

Number

Derived terms

See also

Etymology 2

Adverb

Noun

Etymology 3

Noun

Etymology 4

Verb

Afar

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Albanian

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Basque

Pronunciation

Letter

Usage notes

See also

Further reading

Bilen

Pronunciation

Letter

Catalan

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Comox

Pronunciation

Letter

Dutch

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Estonian

Pronunciation

Letter

Usage notes

See also

Fijian

Pronunciation