Jump To:

• c
  c

  abbreviation

  (with a year) about.
• C
  C

  noun

  the third letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
• c̄
  c̄

  (in prescriptions) with.
• C-
  C-

  (in designations of transport aircraft) cargo.
• c.
  c.

  abbreviation

  gallon.
• C.
  C.

  abbreviation

  Calorie.
• c/-
  c/-

  abbreviation

  care of

c

¹ American  

Or c.

abbreviation

1. (with a year) about.

   c1775.

---

c ² American  

Or c.

abbreviation

1. Optics. candle; candles.

2. cycle; cycles.

---

c ³ American  

Symbol.

1. Physics, Optics. the speed of light in a vacuum: standardized as 186,282.4 miles per second (299,792,458 meters per second).

2. Physics, Acoustics. the speed of sound.

---

C ⁴ American  

[see] / si /

Or c

noun

• C's,
  plural
• Cs,
  plural
• c's,
  plural
• cs
  plural

1. the third letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter C or c, as in cat, race, or circle.

3. something having the shape of a C .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter C or c.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter C or c.

---

C ⁵ American  

noun

1. Computers. a high-level programming language: very powerful and flexible, it is used in a wide variety of applications.

---

C ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. cocaine.

2. Grammar. complement.

3. consonant.

4. Electricity. coulomb.

5. county (used with a number to designate a county road).

   C55.

---

C ⁷ American  

Symbol.

1. the third in order or in a series.

2. (in some grading systems) a grade or mark, as in school or college, indicating the quality of a student's work as fair or average. Sometimes c

3. Music.

   1. the first tone, or keynote, in the scale of C major or the third tone in the relative minor scale, A minor.

   2. a string, key, or pipe tuned to this tone.

   3. a written or printed note representing this tone.

   4. (in the fixed system of solmization) the first tone of the scale of C major, called do.

   5. the tonality having C as the tonic note.

   6. a symbol indicating quadruple time and appearing after the clef sign on a musical staff.

4. the Roman numeral for 100. Sometimes c

5. Celsius.

6. centigrade.

7. Electricity.

   1. capacitance.

   2. a battery size for 1.5 volt dry cells: diameter, 1 inch (2.5 centimeters); length, 1.9 inches (4.8 centimeters).

8. Chemistry. carbon.

9. Physics.

   1. charge conjugation

   2. charm.

10. Biochemistry.

    1. cysteine.

    2. cytosine.

11. Slang. Also a hundred-dollar bill.

12. a proportional shoe width size, narrower than D and wider than B.

13. a proportional brassiere cup size, smaller than D and larger than B.

14. the lowest quality rating for a corporate or municipal bond.

---

c̄ ⁸ American  

Or c.

1. (in prescriptions) with.

---

C- ⁹ American  

U.S. Military.

1. (in designations of transport aircraft) cargo.

   C-54; C-124.

---

c. ¹⁰ American  

abbreviation

1. gallon.

---

c. ¹¹ American  

abbreviation

1. Optics. candle; candles. Also c

2. carat.

3. carbon.

4. carton.

5. case.

6. Baseball. catcher.

7. cathode.

8. cent; cents.

9. centavo.

10. Football. center.

11. centigrade.

12. centime.

13. centimeter.

14. century.

15. chairman; chairperson.

16. chapter.

17. chief.

18. child.

19. church.

20. cirrus.

21. city.

22. cloudy.

23. cognate.

24. color.

25. copper.

26. copyright.

27. corps.

28. cubic.

29. cycle; cycles. Also c

---

C. ¹² American  

abbreviation

1. Calorie.

2. Cape.

3. Catholic.

4. Celsius.

5. Celtic.

6. Centigrade.

7. College.

8. (in Costa Rica and El Salvador) colon; colons.

9. Congress.

10. Conservative.

---

C. ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. (on maps as part of name) Cape

2. Catholic

3. Celtic

4. Conservative

5. Corps

---

C ² British  

symbol

1. music

   1. a note having a frequency of 261.63 hertz ( middle C ) or this value multiplied or divided by any power of 2; the first degree of a major scale containing no sharps or flats ( C major )

   2. a key, string, or pipe producing this note

   3. the major or minor key having this note as its tonic

   4. a time signature denoting four crotchet beats to the bar See also alla breve common time

2. chem carbon

3. biochem cytosine

4. capacitance

5. heat capacity

6. cold (water)

7. physics compliance

8. Celsius

9. centigrade

10. century

    C20

11. coulomb

12. 100 See Roman numerals

---

abbreviation

1. Cuba (international car registration)

noun

1. a computer programming language combining the advantages of a high-level language with the ability to address the computer at a level comparable with that of an assembly language

c ³ British  

symbol

1. centi-

2. cubic

3. cycle

4. maths constant

5. specific heat capacity

6. the speed of light and other types of electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum

7. chess See algebraic notation

---

C- ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. cargo transport

   C-5

---

c. ⁵ British  

abbreviation

1. carat

2. cricket caught

3. cent(s)

4. century or centuries

5. (used esp preceding a date) circa

   c. 1800

---

c/- ⁶ British  

abbreviation

1. care of

---

c ⁷ British  

/ siː /

noun

1. the third letter and second consonant of the modern English alphabet

2. a speech sound represented by this letter, in English usually either a voiceless alveolar fricative, as in cigar, or a voiceless velar stop, as in case

3. the third in a series, esp the third highest grade in an examination

4. 1. something shaped like a C

   2. ( in combination )

      a C-spring

---

c Scientific  

1. The symbol for the speed of light in a vacuum.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• C's
  plural
• Cs
  plural
• c's
  plural
• cs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of c¹

From Latin circā, circiter, circum

Origin of c̄⁸

From the Latin word cum

Origin of c.¹⁰

From the Latin word congius

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

c C C- c. C. C's Cs c's cs

We can also see a copy of William Beechey’s c.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

Instead of having just three parameters—a, b, and c in this quadratic—the latest A.I. chatbots are estimated to have trillions of parameters.

From Slate ● May 25, 2026

Not every editor is quite as catholic with a little c, as ecumenical, as excited about such a range of writing as I am.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026

This is often what I'd describe as campaigning with a small "c" – discreet conversations and planning, the vast majority a long way from the public gaze and deniable.

From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2025

And even though I never opened my mouth, I say, Thanks, becauseMissing I am not a mathematician— a + b seldom equals c.

From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander

More than 90% of entries at private schools achieved grades A to C this year at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level, while state schools remain below 80%.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

New Zealand game, for example, Metro said rides on the K Line and C Line — those closest to SoFi Stadium — were up 41% and 23% respectively compared to a typical Monday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Much of what scientists know about genetic diversity has come from studying changes in individual DNA base pairs, such as an A changing to a G or a T changing to a C.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

Altana, which was founded in 2019, most recently raised $200 million in a Series C round in 2024 that valued the company at $1 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

For example, C minor has the same key signature as E flat major, since E flat is a minor third higher than C.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

While it is hard to find universal statistics for everyone on Earth, European researchers estimated in a study published in 2018 that more than 0.5 percent of people in Germany suffer from C- PTSD.

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2023

Its answer would’ve probably earned a C or C-.

From Slate ● Dec. 13, 2022

The film, about a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers, landed a 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and a "C-" CinemaScore from moviegoers.

From Reuters ● May 15, 2022

Audiences weren’t on board either, giving it a C- CinemaScore.

From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2022

Each C- ration package was supposed to be a three-meal-a-day food source.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

The earliest are three allegorical scenes about the senses from c. 1624-25, when he was just shy of 20.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 24, 2026

“That’s the small c. But the big C in my life is Christianity.”

From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2019

For centuries, the curious altar painting titled “The Visitation,” c. 1528-29, by Jacopo Pontormo, has hung in a small town church in Italy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2019

But who knew that some of these essays were collected in the pamphlet-style magazine “The American Museum, or Repository, of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces & c., Prose and Poetical”?

From Washington Post ● Apr. 11, 2018

The inscription turned out to be a date: September 3,32 b. c. , in today’s calendar.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Previously, the Games planned to have divers compete at the LA84 Foundation/John C. Argue Swim Stadium, immediately southwest of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will host track and field events.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

When Vera C. Bushfield succeeded her late husband in 1948, she didn’t even bother to move to Washington.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

Steven C. Kemp’s sets contrasted the forbiddingly gray and angular environment of Atlas with the riotously colored, luminescent trees and rocks of the world outside.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

Farah expects astronomers to discover many more "chirping" supernovae once the Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins its unprecedented survey of the night sky.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026

C. P. Ellis’ ascent to power in the Ku Klux Klan paralleled Ann Atwater’s own steady climb through the ranks of community activists.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

In high school, I received mostly B’s and C’s, and I didn’t study for the SATs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2025

I call them the three C’s: courts, crowds, and courage.

From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025

But in the meeting, Mr Harvey told Baby C's mother staffing levels and statistics were being examined and failed to mention anything about suspicions surrounding the nurse.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2024

Maya recommends focusing on three C’s: catch, cause and cancer.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 22, 2024

Now I get mostly B’s, with a sprinkle of C’s, except for English.

From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez

Only eight banks got Bs, while the majority got Cs; 36 got Ds.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026

The 16-year-old hopes to get a minimum of five Cs, including maths and Welsh, to study for a Level 3 in agricultural engineering at Coleg Glynllifon.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025

Alleah got three Cs, three Bs and an A, allowing her to go to Bridgend College to study performing arts.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2024

Learning this and informed by modelling, the team set about pain-staking analysis that saw Utsunomiya, graduate student Kanako Miyazaki, and the team finally image radioactive Cs atoms.

From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024

They go from low Bs to very low Cs before they figure out what is going on.

From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Beyond consent, the other two c’s, credit and compensation, have their own challenges, as illustrated even now with the high cost of litigation regarding infringements of copyright or patents.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 7, 2023

“It hasn’t rained in months,” she said, her Tuscan Italian full of soft g’s and c’s.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021

On the other hand I can always tell you that I lost a spelling bee to Juanita Meyers in the fifth grade; the word was necessary, I misspelled it with two "c's."

From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2016

Hard consonants - k's, d's, hard c's and hard g's - gave me hell.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 21, 2010

Don’t be tempted to double up on/’s or c’s.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

A contestant in the Season 3 premiere lays out her "four cs" theory of success: "courage, creativity, cash and celebrity."

From Time Magazine Archive

C or cz is pronounced as English ts; cs as English ch; ds as English j; zs as French j; gy as dy.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 8 "Hudson River" to "Hurstmonceaux" by Various

Make 7 more cs, joining between a and bs in the same manner. d.

From The Ladies' Work-Book Containing Instructions In Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, etc. by Unknown

Of these, x was equivalent to cs, while the equivalence of z is uncertain.

From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)

Quintilian remarks that x is not an indispensable letter in Latin, implying that cs and gs could take its place.

From Latin Pronunciation A Short Exposition of the Roman Method by Peck, Harry Thurston

Related Words

• corruption
• disease
• malignancy
• sickness
• tumor