C,orc,is the thirdletterof theLatin Alpha bet,used in themodern English Alpha bet,the Alpha bets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English iscee(pronounced/ˈsiː/), pluralcees.[1]
| C | |
|---|---|
| C c | |
 | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Latin script |
| Type | Alphabetic |
| Language of origin | Latin language |
| Sound values | |
| InUnicode | U+0043, U+0063 |
| Alphabetical position | 3 Numerical value:100 |
| History | |
| Development | |
| Sisters | |
| Other | |
| Associated numbers | 100 |
History
| Egyptian | Phoenician gaml |
Western Greek Gamma |
Etruscan C |
Old Latin C (G) |
Latin C | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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"C" comes from the same letter as "G". TheSemitesnamed itgimel.The sign is possibly adapted from anEgyptian hieroglyphfor astaff sling,which may have been the meaning of the namegimel.Another possibility is that it depicted a camel, the Semitic name for which wasgamal.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!)".[2]
In theEtruscan language,plosive consonantshad no contrastivevoicing,so theGreek'Γ' (Gamma) was adopted into theEtruscan Alpha betto represent/k/.Already in theWestern Greek Alpha bet,Gamma first took a '
' form in Early Etruscan, then '
' in Classical Etruscan. InLatin,it eventually took the 'c' form inClassical Latin.In the earliest Latin inscriptions, the letters 'c k q' were used to represent the sounds/k/and/ɡ/(which were not differentiated in writing). Of these, 'q' was used to represent/k/or/ɡ/before a rounded vowel, 'k' before 'a', and 'c' elsewhere.[3]During the 3rd century BC, a modified character was introduced for/ɡ/,and 'c' itself was retained for/k/.The use of 'c' (and its variant 'g') replaced most usages of 'k' and 'q'. Hence, in the classical period and after, 'g' was treated as the equivalent of Greek gamma, and 'c' as the equivalent of kappa; this shows in the romanization of Greek words, as in 'ΚΑΔΜΟΣ', 'ΚΥΡΟΣ', and 'ΦΩΚΙΣ' came into Latin as 'cadmvs', 'cyrvs' and 'phocis', respectively.
Other Alpha bets have lettershomoglyphicto 'c' but not analogous in use and derivation, like theCyrillicletterEs(С, с) which derives from the lunatesigma.
Later use
When the Roman Alpha bet was introduced into Britain,⟨c⟩represented only/k/,and this value of the letter has been retained in loanwords to all theinsular Celtic languages:inWelsh,[4]Irish,andGaelic,⟨c⟩represents only/k/.TheOld English Latin-based writing systemwas learned from the Celts, apparently of Ireland; hence,⟨c⟩in Old English also originally represented/k/;the Modern English wordskin,break,broken,thick,andseekall come from Old English words written with⟨c⟩:cyn, brecan, brocen, þicc,andséoc.However, during the course of the Old English period,/k/before front vowels (/e/and/i/) waspalatalized,having changed by the tenth century to[tʃ],though⟨c⟩was still used, as incir(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 modern romance languages (for example, inItalian).
In Vulgar Latin,/k/became palatalized to[tʃ]in Italy and Dalmatia; in France and theIberian Peninsula,it became[ts].Yet for these new sounds,⟨c⟩was still used before the letters⟨e⟩and⟨i⟩.The letter thus represented two distinct values. Subsequently, the Latin phoneme/kw/(spelled⟨qv⟩) de-labialized to/k/,meaning that the various Romance languages had/k/before front vowels. In addition,Normanused the letter⟨k⟩so that the sound/k/could be represented by either⟨k⟩or⟨c⟩,the latter of which could represent either/k/or/ts/depending on whether it preceded a front vowel letter or not. The convention of using both⟨c⟩and⟨k⟩was applied to the writing of English after theNorman Conquest,causing a considerable re-spelling of the Old English words. Thus, while Old Englishcandel,clif,corn,crop,andcú,remained unchanged,cent,cǣᵹ(cēᵹ),cyng,brece,andsēoce,were now (without any change of sound) spelledKent,keȝ,kyng,breke,andseoke;evencniht('knight') was subsequently changed tokniht,andþic('thick') was changed tothikorthikk.The Old English⟨cw⟩was also at length displaced by the French⟨qu⟩so that the Old Englishcwēn('queen') andcwic('quick') becameMiddle Englishquenandquik,respectively.
The sound[tʃ],to which Old English palatalized/k/had advanced, also occurred in French, chiefly from Latin/k/before⟨a⟩.In French, it was represented by the digraph⟨ch⟩,as inchamp(from Latincamp-um), and this spelling was introduced into English: theHatton Gospels,writtenc. 1160,have in Matt. i-iii,child,chyld,riche,andmychel,for thecild,rice,andmycelof the Old English version whence they were copied. In these cases, the Old English⟨c⟩gave way to⟨k⟩,⟨qu⟩and⟨ch⟩;on the other hand,⟨c⟩in its new value of/ts/appeared largely in French words likeprocessiun,emperice,andgraceand was also substituted for⟨ts⟩in a few Old English words, asmiltse, bletsien,in early Middle Englishmilce,blecien.By the end of the thirteenth century, both in France and England, this sound/ts/was de-affricated to/s/;and from that time,⟨c⟩has represented/s/before front vowels either foretymologicalreasons, as inlance,cent,or to avoid the ambiguity due to the "etymological" use of⟨s⟩for/z/,as inace,mice,once,pence,defence.
Thus, to show etymology, English spelling hasadvise,devise(instead of*advize,*devize), whileadvice,device,dice,ice,mice,twice,etc., do not reflect etymology; example has extended this tohence,pence,defence,etc., where there is no etymological reason for using⟨c⟩.Former generations also wrotesenceforsense.Hence, today, theRomance languagesandEnglishhave a common feature inherited fromVulgar Latinspelling conventions where⟨c⟩takes on either a"hard" or "soft"value depending on the following letter.
Use in writing systems
| Orthography | Phonemes | Environment |
|---|---|---|
| Albanian | /ts/ | |
| Cypriot Arabic | /ʕ/ | |
| Azeri | /dʒ/ | |
| Berber | /ʃ/ | |
| Bukawa | /ʔ/ | |
| Catalan | /k/ | Except before e, i |
| /s/ | Before e, i | |
| Standard Chinese(Pinyin) | /tsʰ/ | |
| Crimean Tatar | /dʒ/ | |
| Cornish(Standard Written Form) | /s/ | |
| Czech | /ts/ | |
| Danish | /k/ | Except before e, i, y, æ, ø |
| /s/ | Before e, i, y, æ, ø | |
| Dutch | /k/ | Except before e, i, y |
| /s/ | Before e, i, y | |
| /tʃ/ | Before e, i in loanwords from Italian | |
| English | /k/ | Except before e, i, y |
| /s/ | Before e, i, y | |
| /ʃ/ | Before ea, ia, ie, io, iu | |
| Esperanto | /ts/ | |
| Fi gian | /ð/ | |
| Filipino | /k/ | Except before e, i |
| /s/ | Before e, i | |
| French | /k/ | Except before e, i, y |
| /s/ | Before e, i, y | |
| Fula | /tʃ/ | |
| Gagauz | /dʒ/ | |
| Galician | /k/ | Except before e, i |
| /θ/or/s/ | Before e, i | |
| German | /k/ | Except before ä, e, i, ö, ü, y in loanwords and names |
| /ts/ | Before ä, e, i, ö, ü, y in loanwords and names | |
| Hausa | /tʃ/ | |
| Hungarian | /ts/ | |
| Indonesian | /tʃ/ | |
| Irish | /k/ | Except before e, i; or after i |
| /c/ | Before e, i; or after i | |
| Italian | /k/ | Except before e, i |
| /tʃ/ | Before e, i | |
| Khmer(ALA-LC) | /c/ | |
| Kurmanji(Hawar) | /dʒ/ | |
| Latin | /k/(and/g/in early Latin) | |
| Latvian | /ts/ | |
| Malay | /tʃ/ | |
| Manding | /tʃ/ | |
| Norwegian | /k/ | Except before e, i, y, æ, ø in loanwords and names |
| /s/ | Before e, i, y, æ, ø in loanwords and names | |
| Polish | /ts/ | Except before i |
| /tɕ/ | Before i | |
| Portuguese | /k/ | Except before e, i, y |
| /s/ | Before e, i, y | |
| Romanian | /k/ | Except before e, i |
| /tʃ/ | Before e, i | |
| Romansh | /k/ | Except before e, i |
| /ts/ | Before e, i | |
| Scottish Gaelic | /kʰ/ | Except before e, i; or after i |
| /kʰʲ/ | Before e, i; or after i | |
| Serbo-Croatian | /ts/ | |
| Slovak | /ts/ | |
| Slovene | /ts/ | |
| Somali | /ʕ/ | |
| Spanish | /k/ | Except before e, i, y |
| /θ/or/s/ | Before e, i, y | |
| Swedish | /k/ | Except before e, i, y, ä, ö |
| /s/ | Before e, i, y, ä, ö | |
| Tajik | /tʃ/ | |
| Tatar | /ʑ/ | |
| Turkish | /dʒ/ | |
| Valencian | /k/ | Except before e, i |
| /s/ | Before e, i | |
| Vietnamese | /k/ | Except word-finally |
| /k̚/ | Word-finally | |
| Welsh | /k/ | |
| Xhosa | /ǀ/ | |
| Yabem | /ʔ/ | |
| Yup'ik | /tʃ/ | |
| Zulu | /ǀ/ |
English
InEnglish orthography,⟨c⟩generally represents the "soft" value of/s/before the letters⟨e⟩(including the Latin-derived digraphs⟨ae⟩and⟨oe⟩,or the corresponding ligatures⟨æ⟩and⟨œ⟩),⟨i⟩,and⟨y⟩,and a "hard" value of/k/before any other letters or at the end of a word. However, there are a number of exceptions in English: "soccer"and"Celt"are words that have/k/where/s/would be expected. The "soft"⟨c⟩may represent the/ʃ/sound in the digraph⟨ci⟩when this precedes a vowel, as in the words 'delicious' and 'appreciate', and also in the word "ocean" and its derivatives.
The digraph⟨ch⟩most commonly represents/tʃ/,but can also represent/k/(mainly in words ofGreekorigin) or/ʃ/(mainly in words ofFrenchorigin). For some dialects of English, it may also represent/x/in words likeloch,while other speakers pronounce the final sound as/k/.The trigraph⟨tch⟩always represents/tʃ/.The digraph⟨ck⟩is often used to represent the sound/k/after short vowels, like in "wicket".
C is thetwelfth most frequently used letterin the English language (afterE,T,A,O,I,N,S,H,R,D,andL), with a frequency of about 2.8% in words.
Other languages
In the Romance languagesFrench,Spanish,Italian,Romanian,andPortuguese,⟨c⟩generally has a "hard" value of/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⟨c⟩value is/s/as it is in English. In the Spanish spoken in most of Spain, the soft⟨c⟩is avoiceless dental fricative/θ/.InItalianandRomanian,the soft⟨c⟩is[t͡ʃ].
Germanic languages usually use⟨c⟩for Romance loans or digraphs, such as⟨ch⟩and⟨ck⟩,but the rules vary across languages. Of all the Germanic languages, only English uses the initial⟨c⟩in native Germanic words likecome.Other than English,Dutchuses⟨c⟩the most, for most Romance loans and the digraph⟨ch⟩.German uses⟨c⟩in the digraphs⟨ch⟩and⟨ck⟩,and the trigraph⟨sch⟩,but by itself only in unassimilated loanwords and proper names.Danishkeeps soft⟨c⟩in Romance words but changes hard⟨c⟩to⟨k⟩.Swedish has the same rules for soft and hard⟨c⟩as Danish, and also uses⟨c⟩in the digraph⟨ck⟩and the very common wordoch,"and".Norwegian,Afrikaans,andIcelandicare the most restrictive, replacing all cases of⟨c⟩with⟨k⟩or⟨s⟩,and reserving⟨c⟩for unassimilated loanwords and names.
AllBalto-Slavic languagesthat use the Latin Alpha bet, as well asAlbanian,Hungarian,Pashto,severalSami languages,Esperanto,Ido,Interlingua,andAmericanist phonetic notation(and thoseaboriginal languages of North Americawhose practical orthography derives from it), use⟨c⟩to represent/t͡s/,thevoiceless alveolarorvoiceless dental sibilant affricate.InHanyu Pinyin,the standard romanization ofMandarin Chinese,the letter represents an aspirated version of this sound,/t͡sh/.
Among non-European languages that have adopted the Latin Alpha bet,⟨c⟩represents a variety of sounds.Yup'ik,Indonesian,Malay,and a number of African languages such asHausa,Fula,andMandingshare the soft Italian value of/t͡ʃ/.InAzeri,Crimean Tatar,Kurmanji Kurdish,andTurkish,⟨c⟩stands for the voiced counterpart of this sound, thevoiced postalveolar affricate/d͡ʒ/.InYabemand similar languages, such asBukawa,⟨c⟩stands for aglottal stop/ʔ/.XhosaandZuluuse this letter to represent the click/ǀ/.In some other African languages, such asBerber languages,⟨c⟩is used for/ʃ/.InFi gian,⟨c⟩stands for avoiced dental fricative/ð/,while inSomaliit has the value of/ʕ/.
The letter⟨c⟩is also used as a transliteration of Cyrillic⟨ц⟩in the Latin forms ofSerbian,Macedonian,and sometimesUkrainian,along with the digraph⟨ts⟩.
Other systems
As aphoneticsymbol, lowercase ⟨c⟩ is theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA) andX-SAMPAsymbol for thevoiceless palatal plosive,and capital⟨C⟩is the X-SAMPA symbol for thevoiceless palatal fricative.
Digraphs
There are several common digraphs with⟨c⟩,the most common being⟨ch⟩,which in some languages (such asGerman) is far more common than⟨c⟩alone.⟨ch⟩takes various values in other languages.
As in English,⟨ck⟩,with the value/k/,is often used after short vowels in otherGermanic languagessuch as German andSwedish(other Germanic languages, such as Dutch andNorwegian,use⟨kk⟩instead). The digraph⟨cz⟩is found in Polish and⟨cs⟩in Hungarian, representing/t͡ʂ/and/t͡ʃ/respectively. The digraph⟨sc⟩represents/ʃ/in Old English, Italian, and a few languages related to Italian (where this only happens beforefront vowels,while otherwise it represents/sk/). The trigraph⟨sch⟩represents/ʃ/in German.
Other uses
- In thehexadecimal(base 16) numbering system, C is a number that corresponds to the number 12 indecimal(base 10) counting.
- In theRoman numeralsystem, C represents 100.
- Unit prefixc, meaning one hundredth.
Related characters
Ancestors, descendants and siblings
- 𐤂:SemiticletterGimel,from which the following symbols originally derive:
- Phonetic Alpha betsymbols related to C:
- ɕ:Small c with curl
- ʗ:Stretched c
- 𝼏:Stretched c with curl– Used by Douglas Beach for anasal clickin his phonetic description ofKhoekhoe.[5]
- 𝼝: Small letter c with retroflex hook – Para-IPA version of theIPAretroflex tʂ.[6]
- ꟲ: Modifier letter capital c – Used to mark tone for theChatinoorthography in Oaxaca, Mexico; used as a generic transcription for a falling tone; also used in para-IPAnotation.[7]
- ᶜ:Modifier letter small c[8]
- ᶝ:Modifier letter small c with curl[8]
- ᴄ: Small capital c is used in theUralic Phonetic Alphabet.[9]
- Ꞔ ꞔ: C with palatal hook, used for writingMandarin Chineseusing the early draft version ofpinyinromanization during the mid-1950s.[10]
Add to C with diacritics:
Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols
- ©:copyright symbol
- °C:degree Celsius
- ¢:cent
- ₡:colón (currency)
- ₢:Brazilian cruzeiro (currency)
- ₵:Ghana cedi (currency)
- ₠:European Currency UnitCE
- :blackboard boldC, denoting thecomplex numbers
- ℭ:blackletter C
- Ꜿ ꜿ:Medievalabbreviation forLatinsyllablescon- andcom-, andPortuguese-usand -os.[12]
Other representations
Computing
The Latin letters⟨C⟩and⟨c⟩haveUnicodeencodingsU+0043CLATIN CAPITAL LETTER CandU+0063cLATIN SMALL LETTER C.These are the samecode pointsas those used inASCIIandISO 8859.There are alsoprecomposed characterencodings for⟨C⟩and⟨c⟩with diacritics, for most of those listedabove;the remainder are produced usingcombining diacritics.
Variant forms of the letter have unique code points for specialist use: theAlpha numeric symbols setin mathematics and science,voiceless palatalsounds in linguistics, andhalfwidth and fullwidth formsfor legacyCJKfont compatibility. The Cyrillichomoglyphof the Latin⟨C⟩has a separate encoding:U+0421СCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ES.
Other
See also
References
- ^"C"Oxford English Dictionary,2nd edition (1989);Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged(1993); "cee",op. cit.
- ^Powell, Barry B. (March 27, 2009).Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization.Wiley Blackwell. p. 182.ISBN978-1405162562.
- ^Sihler, Andrew L. (1995).New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin(illustrated ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 21.ISBN0-19-508345-8.
- ^"Reading Middle Welsh -- 29 Medieval Spelling".mit.edu.RetrievedNovember 19,2019.
- ^Miller, Kirk; Sands, Bonny (July 10, 2020)."L2/20-115R: Unicode request for additional phonetic click letters"(PDF).
- ^Miller, Kirk (January 11, 2021)."L2/21-041: Unicode request for additional para-IPA letters"(PDF).
- ^Miller, Kirk; Cornelius, Craig (September 25, 2020)."L2/20-251: Unicode request for modifier Latin capital letters"(PDF).
- ^abConstable, Peter (April 19, 2004)."L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS"(PDF).
- ^Everson, Michael;et al. (March 20, 2002)."L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS"(PDF).
- ^West, Andrew;Chan, Eiso;Everson, Michael(January 16, 2017)."L2/17-013: Proposal to encode three uppercase Latin letters used in early Pinyin"(PDF).
- ^Everson, Michael (August 12, 2005)."L2/05-193R2: Proposal to add Claudian Latin letters to the UCS"(PDF).
- ^Everson, Michael; Baker, Peter; Emiliano, António; Grammel, Florian; Haugen, Odd Einar; Luft, Diana; Pedro, Susana; Schumacher, Gerd; Stötzner, Andreas (January 30, 2006)."L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS"(PDF).
External links
