C — Mediated Wiki

{{Short description|Third letter of the Latin alphabet}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{about|the letter|the programming language|C (programming language)|other uses}} {{Hatnote|For [[WP:NCTR|technical reasons]], "C#" and ":C" redirect here. For uses of C#, see [[C-sharp (disambiguation)|C-sharp]]. For the keyboard symbols, see [[List of emoticons]]. For Wikimedia Commons, see [[:c:]].}} {{pp-semi-vandalism|small=yes}} {{pp-move|small=yes}} {{Infobox grapheme | name = C | letter = C c | variations = | script = [[Latin script]] | type = [[Alphabet]] | typedesc = ic | language = [[Latin ]]language | phonemes = {{flex list|{{IPAblink|c}}|{{IPAblink|k}}|{{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}|{{IPAblink|t͡s}}|{{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}}|{{IPAblink|ʃ}}|{{IPAblink|s}}|{{IPAblink|ʕ}}|{{IPAblink|ʔ}}|{{IPAblink|θ}}|{{IPAblink|ð}}|{{IPAblink|ʑ}}}} | unicode = U+0043, U+0063 | alphanumber = 3 | number = [[Roman numerals|100]] | fam1 = <hiero>T14</hiero> | fam2 = [[Image:Proto-semiticG-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Gimel]] | fam3 = [[Image:Phoenician gimel.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Gimel]] | fam4 = [[File:Greek Gamma 03.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Early Greek Gamma]] | fam5 = [[File:Early Etruscan C.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Early Etruscan C]] | fam6 = [[Gamma|Γ γ]] | fam7 = [[𐌂]] | usageperiod = {{circa|700 BCE}}{{snd}}present | children = {{flex list|[[ç]]|[[Enclosed_Alphanumerics|⒞ Ⓒ ⓒ]]|[[Enclosed_Alphanumeric_Supplement|🄒 🄫 🄯 🄲 🅒 🅲 🇨]]|[[Ȼ]]|[[₵]]|[[₡]]|[[¢]]|[[℃]]|[[∁]]}} | sisters = {{flex list|[[Г]]|[[G]]|[[Գ]]|[[Gimel|(𐡂 ࠂ ג ܓ ج)]]}} | image = File:Latin_letter_C.svg | imageclass = skin-invert-image }} {{Latin letter info|c}}

'''C''' ([[Letter case|minuscule]]: '''c''') is the third [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Latin alphabet]], used in the [[English alphabet|modern English alphabet]], the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is [[English alphabet#Letter names|''cee'']] (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|s|iː|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-C.wav}}), plural ''cees''.<ref>"C" ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989); ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993); "cee", ''op. cit.''</ref>

==History== {| class="wikitable skin-invert-image" |- ! [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian]] ! [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] ''[[gimel|gaml]]'' ! [[Western Greek alphabet|Western Greek]] ''[[Gamma]]'' ! [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] C ! [[Latin alphabet|Old Latin]] C (G) ! [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] C |- style="text-align:center;" | {{align|center|<hiero>T14</hiero>}} |[[File:Phoenician gimel.svg|30px|Phoenician gimel]] |[[File:Greek Gamma archaic 1.svg|30px|Greek Gamma]] |[[File:EtruscanC-01.svg|30px|Etruscan C]] |[[File:Old Latin G.svg|30px|Old Latin]] |[[File:Capitalis monumentalis C.svg|x30px|Latin C]] |} "C" comes from the same letter as "G". The [[Semitic people|Semites]] named it [[gimel]]. The sign is possibly adapted from an [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian hieroglyph]] for a [[Staff-sling|staff sling]], which may have been the meaning of the name ''gimel''. Another possibility is that it depicted a camel, the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] name for which was ''gamal''. [[Barry B. Powell]], a specialist in the history of writing, states "It is hard to imagine how gimel = "camel" can be derived from the picture of a camel (it may show his hump, or his head and neck!)".<ref>{{cite book|last=Powell|first=Barry B.|title=Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization|date=27 Mar 2009|publisher=Wiley Blackwell|isbn=978-1405162562|page=182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZ2Gr3d9X2UC&q=Gimel+shaped+like+a+camel%27s+neck&pg=PA182}}</ref>

In the [[Etruscan language]], [[plosive consonant]]s had no contrastive [[phonation|voicing]], so the [[Greek language|Greek]] '[[Gamma|Γ]]' (Gamma) was adopted into the [[Etruscan alphabet]] to represent {{IPA|/k/}}. Already in the [[Western Greek alphabet]], [[Gamma]] first took a '[[File:Early Etruscan C.svg|class=skin-invert-image|frameless|17x17px]]' form in Early Etruscan, then '[[File:Classical Etruscan C.gif|class=skin-invert-image|15px]]' in Classical Etruscan. In [[Latin]], it eventually took the '{{smallcaps|c}}' form in [[Classical Latin]]. In the earliest Latin inscriptions, the letters '{{smallcaps|c k q}}' were used to represent the sounds {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} (which were not differentiated in writing). Of these, '{{smallcaps|q}}' was used to represent {{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/ɡ/}} before a rounded vowel, '{{smallcaps|k}}' before '{{smallcaps|a}}', and '{{smallcaps|c}}' elsewhere.<ref>{{cite book |title=New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin |first=Andrew L. |last=Sihler |edition=illustrated |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |location=New York |isbn=0-19-508345-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeHmqKY2BqoC |page=21 }}</ref> During the 3rd century BC, a modified character was introduced for {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, and '{{smallcaps|c}}' itself was retained for {{IPA|/k/}}. The use of '{{smallcaps|c}}' (and its variant '{{smallcaps|g}}') replaced most usages of '{{smallcaps|k}}' and '{{smallcaps|q}}'. Hence, in the classical period and after, '{{smallcaps|g}}' was treated as the equivalent of Greek gamma, and '{{smallcaps|c}}' as the equivalent of kappa; this shows in the [[romanization]] of Greek words, as in 'ΚΑΔΜΟΣ', 'ΚΥΡΟΣ', and 'ΦΩΚΙΣ' came into Latin as '{{smallcaps|cadmvs}}', '{{smallcaps|cyrvs}}' and '{{smallcaps|phocis}}', respectively.<ref name=":0">{{Cite dictionary |entry=C |last=Murray |first=James A. H. |title=C. World English Historical Dictionary |date=1893 |editor-last=van Leeuwen |editor-first=Steven H. |dictionary=A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles |url=https://wehd.com/13/C.html |access-date=18 August 2025 |website=WEHD.com |publisher=MacMillan |publication-place=New York |edition=Online published 2025}}</ref>

Other alphabets have letters [[homoglyph]]ic to 'c' but not analogous in use and derivation, like the [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] letter [[Es (Cyrillic)|Es]] (С, с) which derives from the lunate [[sigma (letter)|sigma]].

===Later use=== When the Roman alphabet was introduced into Britain, {{angbr|c}} represented only {{IPA|/k/}}, and this value of the letter has been retained in loanwords to all the [[insular Celtic languages]]: in [[Welsh language|Welsh]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reading Middle Welsh -- 29 Medieval Spelling |url=https://www.mit.edu/people/dfm/canol/chap29.html |access-date=2019-11-19 |website=www.mit.edu |archive-date=February 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204210442/https://www.mit.edu/people/dfm/canol/chap29.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Irish language|Irish]], and [[Scottish Gaelic language|Gaelic]], {{angbr|c}} represents only {{IPA|/k/}}. The [[Old English Latin alphabet|Old English Latin-based writing system]] was learned from the [[Celts]], apparently of Ireland; hence, {{angbr|c}} in Old English also originally represented {{IPA|/k/}}; the Modern English words ''kin'', ''break'', ''broken'', ''thick'', and ''seek'' all come from Old English words written with {{angbr|c}}: {{lang|ang|cyn, brecan, brocen, þicc}}, and {{lang|ang|séoc}}. However, during the course of the Old English period, {{IPA|/k/}} before front vowels ({{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/i/}}) was [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalized]], having changed by the tenth century to {{IPA|[tʃ]}}, though {{angbr|c}} was still used, as in {{lang|ang|cir(i)ce, wrecc(e)a}}. On the continent, meanwhile, a similar phonetic change before the same two vowels had also been going on in almost all of the Romance languages (for example, in [[Italian language|Italian]]).

In Vulgar Latin, {{IPA|/k/}} became palatalized to {{IPA|[tʃ]}} in [[Italy]] and [[Dalmatia]]; in France and the [[Iberian Peninsula]], it became {{IPA|[ts]}}. Yet for these new sounds, {{angbr|{{sm|c}}}} was still used before the letters {{angbr|e}} and {{angbr|i}}. The letter thus represented two distinct values. Subsequently, the Latin phoneme {{IPA|/kw/}} (spelled {{angbr|{{smallcaps|qv}}}}) de-labialized to {{IPA|/k/}}, meaning that the various Romance languages had {{IPA|/k/}} before front vowels. In addition, [[Norman language|Norman]] used the letter {{angbr|k}} so that the sound {{IPA|/k/}} could be represented by either {{angbr|k}} or {{angbr|c}}, the latter of which could represent either {{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/ts/}} depending on whether it preceded a front vowel letter or not. The convention of using both {{angbr|c}} and {{angbr|k}} was applied to the writing of English after the [[Norman Conquest]], causing a considerable re-spelling of the [[Old English]] words. Thus, while Old English {{lang|ang|candel, clif, corn, crop}}, and {{lang|ang|cú}}, remained unchanged, {{lang|ang|cent, cǣᵹ (cēᵹ), cyng, brece}}, and {{lang|ang|sēoce}}, were now (without any change of sound) spelled {{lang|enm|Kent, keȝ, kyng, breke}}, and {{lang|enm|seoke}}; even {{lang|ang|cniht}} ({{gloss|knight}}) was subsequently changed to {{lang|enm|kniht}}, and {{lang|ang|þic}} ({{gloss|thick}}) was changed to {{lang|enm|thik}} or {{lang|enm|thikk}}. The Old English {{angbr|cw}} was also at length displaced by the French {{angbr|qu}} so that the Old English {{lang|ang|cwēn}} ({{gloss|queen}}) and {{lang|ang|cwic}} ({{gloss|quick}}) became [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|quen}} and {{lang|enm|quik}}, respectively.

The sound {{IPA|[tʃ]}}, to which Old English palatalized {{IPA|/k/}} had advanced, also occurred in French, chiefly from Latin {{IPA|/k/}} before {{angbr|a}}. In French, it was represented by the digraph {{angbr|ch}}, as in {{lang|fr|champ}} (from Latin {{lang|la|camp-um}}), and this spelling was introduced into English: the [[Hatton Gospels]], written {{circa|1160}}, have in Matt. i-iii, {{lang|enm|child, chyld, riche}}, and {{lang|enm|mychel}}, for the {{lang|ang|cild, rice}}, and {{lang|ang|mycel}} of the Old English version whence they were copied. In these cases, the Old English {{angbr|c}} gave way to {{angbr|k}}, {{angbr|qu}} and {{angbr|ch}}; on the other hand, {{angbr|c}} in its new value of {{IPA|/ts/}} appeared largely in French words like {{lang|xno|processiun, emperice}}, and {{lang|xno|grace}} and was also substituted for {{angbr|ts}} in a few Old English words, as {{lang|ang|miltse, bletsien}}, in early Middle English {{lang|enm|milce, blecien}}. By the end of the thirteenth century, both in France and England, this sound {{IPA|/ts/}} was de-affricated to {{IPA|/s/}}; and from that time, {{angbr|c}} has represented {{IPA|/s/}} before front vowels either for [[etymology|etymological]] reasons, as in ''lance'', ''cent'', or to avoid the ambiguity due to the "etymological" use of {{angbr|s}} for {{IPA|/z/}}, as in ''ace'', ''mice'', ''once'', ''pence'', ''defence''.

Thus, to show etymology, English spelling has ''advise'', ''devise'' (instead of ''*advize'', ''*devize''), while ''advice'', ''device'', ''dice'', ''ice'', ''mice'', ''twice'', etc., do not reflect etymology; example has extended this to ''hence'', ''pence'', ''defence'', etc., where there is no etymological reason for using {{angbr|c}}. Former generations also wrote ''sence'' for ''sense''. Hence, today, the [[Romance languages]] and [[English language|English]] have a common feature inherited from [[Vulgar Latin]] spelling conventions where {{angbr|c}} takes on either a [[Hard and soft C|"hard" or "soft"]] value depending on the following letter.

==Use in writing systems== {{See also|Hard and soft C}} {| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" |+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|c}} by language ![[Orthography]] ![[Phoneme|Phonemes]] !Environment |- ! [[Afar language|Afar]] |{{IPAslink|ħ}} | |- ! [[Albanian orthography|Albanian]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ![[Cypriot Arabic]] |{{IPAslink|ʕ}} | |- ![[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]] |{{IPAslink|dʒ}} | |- ![[Berber Latin alphabet|Berber]] |{{IPAslink|ʃ}} | |- ![[Bukawa language|Bukawa]] |{{IPAslink|ʔ}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Catalan orthography|Catalan]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i |- !{{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]]}} ([[Pinyin]]) |{{IPAslink|tsʰ}} | |- ![[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]] |{{IPAslink|dʒ}} | |- ![[Cornish language|Cornish]] {{nwr|([[Standard Written Form]])}} |{{IPAslink|s}} | |- ![[Czech orthography|Czech]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Danish orthography|Danish]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i, y, æ, ø |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i, y, æ, ø |- ! rowspan="3" |[[Dutch orthography|Dutch]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i, y |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i, y |- |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} |Before e, i in loanwords from Italian |- ! rowspan="3" |[[English orthography|English]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i, y |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i, y |- |{{IPAslink|ʃ}} |Before ea, ia, ie, io, iu |- ![[Esperanto]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ![[Fijian language|Fijian]] |{{IPAslink|ð}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Filipino orthography|Filipino]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[French orthography|French]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i, y |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i, y |- ![[Fula language|Fula]] |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} | |- ![[Gagauz language|Gagauz]] |{{IPAslink|dʒ}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Galician alphabet|Galician]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|θ}} or {{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[German orthography|German]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before ä, e, i, ö, ü, y in loanwords and names |- |{{IPAslink|ts}} |Before ä, e, i, ö, ü, y in loanwords and names |- ![[Hausa language|Hausa]] |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} | |- ![[Hungarian orthography|Hungarian]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ![[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Irish orthography|Irish]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i; or after i |- |{{IPAslink|c}} |Before e, i; or after i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Italian orthography|Italian]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} |Before e, i |- ![[Khmer language|Khmer]] ([[Romanization of Khmer#ALA-LC Romanization Tables|ALA-LC]]) |{{IPAslink|c}} | |- ![[Kurmanji]] ([[Kurdish alphabets|Hawar]]) |{{IPAslink|dʒ}} | |- ![[Latin language|Latin]] |{{IPAslink|k}} (and {{IPAslink|g}} in early Latin) | |- ![[Latvian orthography|Latvian]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ![[Malay orthography|Malay]] |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} | |- ![[Manding languages|Manding]] |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Norwegian orthography|Norwegian]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i, y, æ, ø in loanwords and names |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i, y, æ, ø in loanwords and names |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Polish orthography|Polish]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} |Except before i |- |{{IPAslink|tɕ}} |Before i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Romanian orthography|Romanian]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} |Before e, i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Romansh language|Romansh]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|ts}} |Before e, i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Scottish Gaelic]] |{{IPAslink|kʰ}} |Except before e, i; or after i |- |{{IPAslink|kʰʲ}} |Before e, i; or after i |- ![[Serbo-Croatian]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ![[Slovak orthography|Slovak]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ![[Slovene orthography|Slovene]] |{{IPAslink|ts}} | |- ![[Somali language|Somali]] |{{IPAslink|ʕ}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Spanish orthography|Spanish]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i, y |- |{{IPAslink|θ}} or {{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i, y |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Swedish orthography|Swedish]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i, y, ä, ö |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i, y, ä, ö |- ![[Tajik alphabet#Latin|Tajik]] |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} | |- ![[Tatar language|Tatar]] |{{IPAslink|ʑ}} | |- ![[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]] |{{IPAslink|dʒ}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Valencian orthography|Valencian]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except before e, i |- |{{IPAslink|s}} |Before e, i |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Vietnamese orthography|Vietnamese]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |Except word-finally |- |{{IPAslink|k̚}} |Word-finally |- ![[Welsh orthography|Welsh]] |{{IPAslink|k}} | |- ![[Xhosa alphabet|Xhosa]] |{{IPAslink|ǀ}} | |- ![[Yabem language|Yabem]] |{{IPAslink|ʔ}} | |- ![[Central Alaskan Yup'ik language|Yup'ik]] |{{IPAslink|tʃ}} | |- ![[Zulu alphabet|Zulu]] |{{IPAslink|ǀ}} (a click) | |}

===English=== In [[English orthography]], {{angbr|c}} generally represents the "soft" value of {{IPAc-en|s}} before the letters {{angbr|e}} (including the Latin-derived digraphs {{angbr|ae}} and {{angbr|oe}}, or the corresponding ligatures {{angbr|æ}} and {{angbr|œ}}), {{angbr|i}}, and {{angbr|y}}, and a "hard" value of {{IPAc-en|k}} before any other letters or at the end of a word. However, there are a number of exceptions in English: "[[soccer]]", "[[Pronunciation of Celtic|celt]]" and "[[sceptic]]" are words that have {{IPAc-en|k}} where {{IPAc-en|s}} would be expected. The "soft" {{angbr|c}} may represent the {{IPAc-en|ʃ}} sound in the digraph {{angbr|ci}} when this precedes a vowel, as in the words 'delicious' and 'appreciate', and also in the word "ocean" and its derivatives.

The digraph {{angbr|[[Ch (digraph)|ch]]}} most commonly represents {{IPAc-en|tʃ}}, but can also represent {{IPAc-en|k}} (mainly in words of [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] origin) or {{IPAc-en|ʃ}} (mainly in words of [[French language|French]] origin). For some dialects of English, it may also represent {{IPAc-en|x}} in words like ''loch'', while other speakers pronounce the final sound as {{IPAc-en|k}}. The trigraph {{angbr|tch}} always represents {{IPAc-en|tʃ}}. The digraph {{angbr|ck}} is often used to represent the sound {{IPAc-en|k}} after short vowels, like in "wicket".

C is the [[Letter frequency|twelfth most frequently used letter]] in the English language (after [[E]], [[T]], [[A]], [[O]], [[I]], [[N]], [[S]], [[H]], [[R]], [[D]], and [[L]]), with a frequency of about 2.8% in words.

===Other languages=== In the Romance languages [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], {{angbr|c}} generally has a "hard" value of {{IPA|/k/}} and a "soft" value whose pronunciation varies by language. In French, Portuguese, Catalan, and Spanish from Latin America and some places in Spain, the soft {{angbr|c}} value is {{IPA|/s/}} as it is in English. In the Spanish spoken in most of Spain, the soft {{angbr|c}} is a [[voiceless dental fricative]] {{IPA|/θ/}}. In [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Romanian language|Romanian]], the soft {{angbr|c}} is {{IPA|[t͡ʃ]}}.

Germanic languages usually use {{angbr|c}} for Romance loans or digraphs, such as {{angbr|ch}} and {{angbr|ck}}, but the rules vary across languages. Of all the Germanic languages, only English uses the initial {{angbr|c}} in native Germanic words like ''come''. Other than English, [[Dutch language|Dutch]] uses {{angbr|c}} the most, for most Romance loans and the digraph {{angbr|ch}}. German uses {{angbr|c}} in the digraphs {{angbr|ch}} and {{angbr|ck}}, and the trigraph {{angbr|sch}}, but by itself only in unassimilated loanwords and proper names. [[Danish language|Danish]] keeps soft {{angbr|c}} in Romance words but changes hard {{angbr|c}} to {{angbr|k}}. Swedish has the same rules for soft and hard {{angbr|c}} as Danish, and also uses {{angbr|c}} in the digraph {{angbr|ck}} and the very common word ''och'', "and". [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Afrikaans]], and [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] are the most restrictive, replacing all cases of {{angbr|c}} with {{angbr|k}} or {{angbr|s}}, and reserving {{angbr|c}} for unassimilated loanwords and names.

All [[Balto-Slavic languages]] that use the Latin alphabet, as well as [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Pashto]], several [[Sami languages]], [[Esperanto]], [[Ido]], [[Interlingua]], and [[Americanist phonetic notation]] (and those [[Indigenous languages of North America|aboriginal languages of North America]] whose practical orthography derives from it), use {{angbr|c}} to represent {{IPA|/t͡s/}}, the [[voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate|voiceless alveolar]] or [[voiceless dental sibilant affricate]]. In [[Hanyu Pinyin]], the standard romanization of [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]], the letter represents an aspirated version of this sound, {{IPA|/t͡sh/}}.

Among non-European languages that have adopted the Latin alphabet, {{angbr|c}} represents a variety of sounds. [[Central Alaskan Yup'ik language|Yup'ik]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Malay language|Malay]], and a number of African languages such as [[Hausa language|Hausa]], [[Fula language|Fula]], and [[Manding languages|Manding]] share the soft Italian value of {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}. In [[Azeri language|Azeri]], [[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]], [[Northern Kurdish|Kurmanji Kurdish]], and [[Turkish language|Turkish]], {{angbr|c}} stands for the voiced counterpart of this sound, the [[voiced postalveolar affricate]] {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}. In [[Yabem language|Yabem]] and similar languages, such as [[Bukawa language|Bukawa]], {{angbr|c}} stands for a [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|/ʔ/}}. [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] and [[Zulu language|Zulu]] use this letter to represent the click {{IPA|/ǀ/}}. In some other African languages, such as [[Berber Latin alphabet#Berber Latin alphabet and the Tifinagh Berber alphabet|Berber languages]], {{angbr|c}} is used for {{IPA|/ʃ/}}. In [[Fijian language|Fijian]], {{angbr|c}} stands for a [[voiced dental fricative]] {{IPA|/ð/}}, while in [[Somali language|Somali]] it has the value of {{IPA|/[[Voiced pharyngeal fricative|ʕ]]/}}.

The letter {{angbr|c}} is also used as a transliteration of Cyrillic {{angbr|ц}} in the Latin forms of [[Serbian Latin alphabet|Serbian]], [[Romanisation of Macedonian|Macedonian]], and sometimes [[Romanization of Ukrainian|Ukrainian]], along with the digraph {{angbr|ts}}.

===Other systems=== As a [[phonetic]] symbol, lowercase {{angbr IPA|c}} is the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA) and [[X-SAMPA]] symbol for the [[voiceless palatal plosive]], and capital {{angbr|C}} is the X-SAMPA symbol for the [[voiceless palatal fricative]].

===Digraphs=== There are several common digraphs with {{angbr|c}}, the most common being {{angbr|[[Ch (digraph)|ch]]}}, which in some languages (such as [[German language|German]]) is far more common than {{angbr|c}} alone. {{angbr|ch}} takes various values in other languages.

As in English, {{angbr|ck}}, with the value {{IPA|/k/}}, is often used after short vowels in other [[Germanic languages]] such as German and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] (other Germanic languages, such as Dutch and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], use {{angbr|kk}} instead). The digraph {{angbr|cz}} is found in Polish and {{angbr|cs}} in Hungarian, representing {{IPA|/t͡ʂ/}} and {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} respectively. The digraph {{angbr|sc}} represents {{IPA|/ʃ/}} in Old English, Italian, and a few languages related to Italian (where this only happens before [[front vowel]]s, while otherwise it represents {{IPA|/sk/}}). The trigraph {{angbr|sch}} represents {{IPA|/ʃ/}} in German.

==Other uses== {{main article|C (disambiguation)}} * In the [[hexadecimal]] (base 16) numbering system, C is a number that corresponds to the number 12 in [[decimal]] (base 10) counting. * In the [[Roman numeral]] system, C represents 100. * [[Unit prefix]] c, meaning one hundredth.

==Related characters==

===Ancestors, descendants and siblings=== [[File:Porvoo.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright|A curled C in the coat of arms of [[Porvoo]]]] *⟨𐤂⟩ : [[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]] letter [[Gimel]], from which the following symbols originally derive: **⟨{{lang|el|Γ}}⟩ ⟨{{lang|el|γ}}⟩ : [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] letter [[Gamma]], from which ⟨C⟩ derives ***⟨G⟩ ⟨g⟩ : Latin letter ⟨[[G]]⟩, which is derived from Latin ⟨C⟩ ****⟨Ȝ⟩ ⟨ȝ⟩ : Latin letter [[Yogh]], which is derived from Latin ⟨[[G]]⟩ *[[Phonetic transcription#Alphabetic|Phonetic alphabet]] symbols related to ⟨C⟩: **⟨{{IPA link|ɕ}}⟩ : Small ⟨c⟩ with curl **⟨ʗ⟩ : [[ʗ|Stretched ⟨c⟩]] **⟨𝼏⟩ : [[𝼏|Stretched ⟨c⟩ with curl]] – Used by Douglas Beach for a [[Click letter|nasal click]] in his phonetic description of [[Khoekhoe language|Khoekhoe]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=L2/20-115R: Unicode request for additional phonetic click letters|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20115r-click-letters.pdf|date=2020-07-10|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Bonny|last2=Sands}}</ref> **⟨𝼝⟩ : Small letter ⟨c⟩ with retroflex hook – Para-IPA version of the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] retroflex tʂ.<ref>{{Cite web|title=L2/21-041: Unicode request for additional para-IPA letters|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21041-add-para-ipa-ltr.pdf|date=2021-01-11|first=Kirk|last=Miller}}</ref> **⟨ꟲ⟩ : Modifier letter capital ⟨c⟩ – Used to mark tone for the [[Chatino language|Chatino]] orthography in [[Oaxaca, Mexico]]; used as a generic transcription for a falling tone; also used in para-[[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] notation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=L2/20-251: Unicode request for modifier Latin capital letters|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20251-mod-latin.pdf|date=2020-09-25|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Craig|last2=Cornelius}}</ref> *⟨{{not a typo|[[ᶜ]]}}⟩ : Modifier letter small c<ref name="L204132">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable}}</ref> *⟨[[ᶝ]]⟩ : Modifier letter small ⟨c⟩ with curl<ref name="L204132" /> *⟨ᴄ⟩ : Small capital ⟨c⟩ is used in the [[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal}}</ref> *⟨Ꞔ⟩ ⟨ꞔ⟩ : ⟨C⟩ with palatal hook, used for writing [[Mandarin Chinese]] using the early draft version of [[pinyin]] romanization during the mid-1950s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17013-n4782-latin.pdf|title=L2/17-013: Proposal to encode three uppercase Latin letters used in early Pinyin|date=2017-01-16|first1=Andrew|last1=West|author-link=Andrew West (linguist)|first2=Eiso|last2=Chan|first3=Michael|last3=Everson|author-link3=Michael Everson}}</ref> *⟨C⟩ with [[diacritic]]s: [[Ć|Ć ć]] [[Ĉ|Ĉ ĉ]] [[Č|Č č]] [[Ċ|Ċ ċ]] [[Ḉ|Ḉ ḉ]] [[Ƈ|Ƈ ƈ]] [[C̈|C̈ c̈]] [[Ȼ|Ȼ ȼ]] [[Ç|Ç ç]] Ꞔ [[ꞔ]] [[Ꞓ|Ꞓ ꞓ]] *⟨Ↄ⟩ ⟨ↄ⟩ : [[Claudian letters]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2005/05193r2-n2960r2-claudian.pdf|title=L2/05-193R2: Proposal to add Claudian Latin letters to the UCS|date=2005-08-12|first=Michael|last=Everson}}</ref>

===Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols=== *© : [[©|copyright symbol]] *°C : [[degree Celsius]] *¢ : [[¢|cent]] *₡ : [[₡|colón (currency)]] *₢ : [[₢|Brazilian cruzeiro (currency)]] *₵ : [[₵|Ghana cedi (currency)]] *₠ : [[European Currency Unit]] CE *<math>\mathbb{C}</math> : [[blackboard bold]] C, denoting the [[complex number]]s *ℭ : [[ℭ|blackletter C]] *Ꜿ ꜿ : [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] abbreviation for [[Latin]] syllables ''con''- and ''com''-, and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] -''us'' and -''os''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06027-n3027-medieval.pdf|title=L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS|date=2006-01-30|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Peter|last2=Baker|first3=António|last3=Emiliano|first4=Florian|last4=Grammel|first5=Odd Einar|last5=Haugen|first6=Diana|last6=Luft|first7=Susana|last7=Pedro|first8=Gerd|last8=Schumacher|first9=Andreas|last9=Stötzner}}</ref>

==Other representations== ===Computing === The Latin letters {{angbr|C}} and {{angbr|c}} have [[Unicode]] encodings {{unichar|0043}} and {{unichar|0063}}. These are the same [[code point]]s as those used in [[ASCII]] and [[ISO/IEC 8859|ISO 8859]]. There are also [[precomposed character]] encodings for {{angbr|C}} and {{angbr|c}} with diacritics, for most of those listed [[#Related characters|above]]; the remainder are produced using [[combining diacritic]]s.

Variant forms of the letter have unique code points for specialist use: the [[Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols|alphanumeric symbols set]] in mathematics and science, [[Voiceless palatal stop|voiceless palatal]] sounds in linguistics, and [[halfwidth and fullwidth forms]] for legacy [[CJK characters|CJK]] font compatibility. The Cyrillic [[homoglyph]] of the Latin {{angbr|C}} has a separate encoding: {{unichar|0421|nlink=Es (Cyrillic)}}.

===Other=== {{Letter other reps |NATO=Charlie |Morse=–·–· |Character=C3 |Braille=⠉ |fingerspelling=C }}

==See also== *[[Hard and soft C]] *[[Speed of light]], ''c''

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{EB9 Poster|C}} {{Wikisource1911Enc|C}} *{{Commons-inline}} *{{Wiktionary-inline|C}} *{{Wiktionary-inline|c}}

[[Category:ISO basic Latin letters]]