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• 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.

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c ² American  

Or c.

abbreviation

1. Optics. candle; candles.

2. cycle; cycles.

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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.

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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.

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C ⁵ American  

noun

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

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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.

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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.

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c̄ ⁸ American  

Or c.

1. (in prescriptions) with.

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C- ⁹ American  

U.S. Military.

1. (in designations of transport aircraft) cargo.

   C-54; C-124.

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c. ¹⁰ American  

abbreviation

1. gallon.

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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

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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.

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C ¹ 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

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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 ² 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

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c. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. carat

2. cricket caught

3. cent(s)

4. century or centuries

5. (used esp preceding a date) circa

   c. 1800

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c ⁴ 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

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C. ⁵ British  

abbreviation

1. (on maps as part of name) Cape

2. Catholic

3. Celtic

4. Conservative

5. Corps

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C- ⁶ British  

abbreviation

1. cargo transport

   C-5

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c/- ⁷ British  

abbreviation

1. care of

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c Scientific  

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

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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

But portraits dominate, including Jacques-Louis David’s affectionate image of his young son, c.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

When HGF was mixed with LASSS, its ability to bind to c met rose to more than twice that of untreated HGF.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026

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

The answer could be a, b, or c.

From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

The changes eliminated capital-gains taxes on qualified investments—meaning newly issued shares in C corporations with assets of less than $50 million in certain industries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

In April 2022, a Series C funding round had valued Boring at $5.675 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

Forus, a New York-headquartered prescription drug automation platform, landed $150 million in Series C funding at a $3 billion valuation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

According to one takeaway coffee cup manufacturer, the ideal temperature for hot coffee on the go is between 49 and 60 degrees C.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

F lydian has the same key signature as C major, which is a perfect fourth lower.

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

Once assembled, the units went back on trucks bound for Moffett Field, a military installation, where they were loaded into hulking C- 5 transport planes and flown to their final—classified—destinations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

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

Kelly said deputies required to re-test would now need a C- grade to pass their evaluations and be returned to duty.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2022

I think of the C- on my math test; my stomach muscles clench.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

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

Taped to the bottom of an Art Deco ceramic vase, for example, she has written: “Weller, Forest c. 1920. Paid $1 at a yard sale. Took to Antiques Roadshow in the 1990s. Valued at $250-$350.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2025

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

From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2019

I tour the grounds, peeking inside the house at a documentary about its creation and admiring the museumlike displays hanging from the interior walls — “Budweiser curtain from south wall of house c. 1980.”

From Washington Post ● May 12, 2016

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

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

When host Paul C. Brunson asked why Aimee opted out, Kelly said she couldn’t tell “the whole truth” because she didn’t want to speak on behalf of her older sister.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

In his acceptance speech, Newsom recalled that Sher was the only Stanford professor who gave him a C. When Lipper asked whether the story was true, Sher deadpanned, “He deserved it.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

Working-class voters respect people who talk to them directly — Trump’s “straight talk” — and those who have been successful through their own hard work, social inequality expert Joan C. Williams argued in 2016.

From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026

“The ideas that they have in there are pretty modern,” said John C. Atwater, founder of real-estate investment and management firm Prime Residential.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

It is all crumpled up and for some reason I do not know the meaning of, I uncrumple it and there I discover the initials B. C. inside a heart.

From "The Misfits" by James Howe

The buzz: Though lacking the sizzle of Brazil-Morocco, Group C’s other first-day matchup is no less important.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026

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

Each of League C's six group winners will be promoted.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2024

The lack of emotion in Uncle C’s voice forced my head around before I could stop myself.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

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

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026

"And by now, they would have found them. There would be plan Bs and plan Cs, to make sure that we have reduced this exposure to the US."

From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025

In high school, he said, his son got Cs and Ds, until he switched to the district’s independent study program.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 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

One third of the Cs were college dropouts.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

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

L cs - b4† In both notations the moves are often given in a tabular form, thus:— 1.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 1 "Châtelet" to "Chicago" 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

The grammarians say that the character axis a monogram representing cs or gs.

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

After giving the sound of x as cs, Marius Victorinus goes on to speak of z thus:

From The Roman Pronunciation of Latin Why we use it and how to use it by Frances Ellen Lord

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