C is the third letter of the Roman alphabet. In the Etruscan language, plosive consonants had no distinctive voicing, so they took over Greek &Gamma (Gamma) to write their /k/. In the beginning, the Romans used C for both /k/ and /g/, only later adding a horizontal bar at right-center to produce G. It is possible but uncertain that C represented only /g/ at an even earlier time, while K might have been used for /k/.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
Some scholars claim that the Semitic ג (gîmel) pictured a camel. /k/ developed palatal and velar allophones in Latin, probably due to Etruscan influence. Therefore, C has many different sound values today, among them /k/ and /s/ in French, /k/ and /T/ (like English TH in THIN) in European Castilian, /T/ in Fijian, /k/ and /tS/ (like English CH) in Italian, /dZ/ in Turkish, Tatar, Azeri; /ts/ in Czech, Esperanto and so on.
Charlie represents the letter C in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
In context, C can also stand for:
- The C programming language or its derivatives C++, Objective-C, and/or C#
- Vitamin C
- A musical note; see also Middle C
- A symbol for carbon in chemistry
- c is the SI prefix for centi meaning 1/100.
- The Roman numeral for 100 (centum in Latin)
- A symbol for coulomb, the SI derived unit for electric charge.
- In mathematics
- the set of complex numbers
- with indices: the number of combinations, a binomial coefficient.
- The speed of light, c
- The stock symbol for Citigroup
- With a bar through it and in lower case, a symbol for cent, thus: ¢.
- A standard size of dry-cell battery.
- The control grid bias power supply (originally a battery) of vacuum tube circuitry.
- "see" in SMS or instant message
- The variable for capacitance
- The length of a hypoteneuse on a right-angled triangle.
- C is the UIC classification for the railroad locomotive wheel arrangement known as 0-6-0 in the Whyte notation; a locomotive with three powered axles (and thus six wheels) in which the axles are linked by gearing or side rods.
Two-letter combinations starting with C: