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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  

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 ³ 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/- ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. care of

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c ⁵ 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- ⁶ British  

abbreviation

1. cargo transport

   C-5

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C. ⁷ British  

abbreviation

1. (on maps as part of name) Cape

2. Catholic

3. Celtic

4. Conservative

5. Corps

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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

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

Clear signs of sulfur were found on the third planet, HR 8799 c, and the researchers believe it likely exists on the other two inner planets as well.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 11, 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

“Precisely,” she'd say, and I quickly regretted the c and the s in that word.

From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English

The bot shot back: Actually, because she was born in Spain and her original name was Catalina, a C is correct.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

From the first hint of cold winter mornings, supermarkets and pharmacies begin heavy marketing to coax us to stock up on vitamin C to get through the cold and flu season.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

A large part of Salesforce’s earnings gain comes from its investment in Anthropic, which first began during the artificial-intelligence company’s Series C funding round in 2023.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

There is no evidence vitamin C will reduce your risk of catching a cold.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

He pulled a small box of colorful vitamin C drops from his pocket and held it out to the mother—for the girls, he gestured.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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

The 47-year-old performer playing him has donned several hats over his past couple of decades hovering between the C- and D-lists: actor, comedian, model, MTV video jockey, rap artist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2021

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

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

Also on display is Giotto’s earliest known work, a “Madonna and Child” of c. 1285-90, which dates from the period of the artist’s first arrival in Assisi.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 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

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

Detailed analysis showed that C. praecursor possessed an ovipositor and a terminal caudal filament.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

In the 1970s, cardiologist Robert C. Atkins developed the Atkins diet, which limits carbohydrates while increasing protein and fat intake.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

James C. Scott called this legibility, the way institutions flatten complicated people into categories they can manage.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

Vita Tzykun’s design, enhanced by Thomas C. Hase’s moody lighting and Devario D. Simmons’s period costumes, has six sets of file cabinets that reverse to form a kitchen or a bedroom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

C. Chauncey Burr, editor of the Nineteenth Century Review, and his brother, Heman, fell into this category of enraged skeptics.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

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

As I sit in the car with C after the second ICE vehicle sped off, the remaining Wagoneer idles midblock—right in front of C’s house.

From Slate ● Jan. 16, 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

"They were put in a situation where they were scammed," Christophe Bruschi, Joseph C's lawyer, told the BBC.

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2024

She groaned, anxious to get into the C’s where there was a book by Marie Corelli that she had peeped into and found thrilling.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

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

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

However, despite abundant Cs in the microparticles, direct atomic scale imaging of radioactive Cs in the particles has proven impossible.

From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024

She handed her mother an oversized tan bag covered in capital Cs all facing different directions.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

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

X. x, 2, 9; —— = cs and gs, 32. -x, decl. of monosyllables in, preceded by one or more cons.,

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

Longitudinal section of flower; v, bracteole on the peduncle; l, sepals; ls, appendage of sepal; c, petals; cs, spur of the lower petals; fs, glandular appendage of the lower stamens; a, anthers.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various

In early Latin, cs was often written for x.

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

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