C

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**C** is the third letter in the English alphabet and a letter of the alphabets of many other writing systems which inherited it from the Latin alphabet. It is also the third letter of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is named *cee* (pronounced Template:IPAc-en) in English.

## History

"C" comes from the same letter as "G". The Semites named it gimel. The sign is possibly adapted from an Egyptian hieroglyph for a staff sling, which may have been the meaning of the name *gimel*. Another possibility is that it depicted a camel, the 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!)".

In the Etruscan language, plosive consonants had no contrastive voicing, so the Greek 'Γ' (Gamma) was adopted into the Etruscan alphabet to represent Template:IPA. Already in the Western Greek alphabet, Gamma first took a 'File:Early Etruscan C.gif' form in Early Etruscan, then 'File:Classical Etruscan C.gif' in Classical Etruscan. In Latin it eventually took the 'Template:Smallcaps' form in Classical Latin. In the earliest Latin inscriptions, the letters 'Template:Smallcaps' were used to represent the sounds Template:IPA and Template:IPA (which were not differentiated in writing). Of these, 'Template:Smallcaps' was used to represent Template:IPA or Template:IPA before a rounded vowel, 'Template:Smallcaps' before 'Template:Smallcaps', and 'Template:Smallcaps' elsewhere. During the 3rd century BC, a modified character was introduced for Template:IPA, and 'Template:Smallcaps' itself was retained for Template:IPA. The use of 'Template:Smallcaps' (and its variant 'Template:Smallcaps') replaced most usages of 'Template:Smallcaps' and 'Template:Smallcaps'. Hence, in the classical period and after, 'Template:Smallcaps' was treated as the equivalent of Greek gamma, and 'Template:Smallcaps' as the equivalent of kappa; this shows in the romanization of Greek words, as in 'ΚΑΔΜΟΣ', 'ΚΥΡΟΣ', and 'ΦΩΚΙΣ' came into Latin as 'Template:Smallcaps', 'Template:Smallcaps' and 'Template:Smallcaps', respectively.

Other alphabets have letters homoglyphic to 'c' but not analogous in use and derivation, like the Cyrillic letter Es (С, с) which derives from the lunate sigma, named due to its resemblance to the crescent moon.

## Later use

When the Roman alphabet was introduced into Britain, Template:Angbr represented only Template:IPA, and this value of the letter has been retained in loanwords to all the insular Celtic languages: in Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, Template:Angbr represents only Template:IPA. The Old English Latin-based writing system was learned from the Celts, apparently of Ireland; hence Template:Angbr in Old English also originally represented Template:IPA; the Modern English words *kin, break, broken, thick*, and *seek,* all come from Old English words written with Template:Angbr: *cyn, brecan, brocen, þicc*, and *séoc*. But during the course of the Old English period, Template:IPA before front vowels (Template:IPA and Template:IPA) were palatalized, having changed by the tenth century to Template:IPA, though Template:Angbr was still used, as in *cir(i)ce, wrecc(e)a*. On the continent, meanwhile, a similar phonetic change had also been going on (for example, in Italian).

In Vulgar Latin, Template:IPA became palatalized to Template:IPA in Italy and Dalmatia; in France and the Iberian peninsula, it became Template:IPA. Yet for these new sounds Template:Angbr was still used before the letters Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr. The letter thus represented two distinct values. Subsequently, the Latin phoneme Template:IPA (spelled Template:Angbr) de-labialized to Template:IPA meaning that the various Romance languages had Template:IPA before front vowels. In addition, Norman used the letter Template:Angbr so that the sound Template:IPA could be represented by either Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, the latter of which could represent either Template:IPA or Template:IPA depending on whether it preceded a front vowel letter or not. The convention of using both Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr 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 *candel, clif, corn, crop, cú,* remained unchanged, *Cent, cæ´ᵹ (cé´ᵹ), cyng, brece, séoce,* were now (without any change of sound) spelled 'Kent', 'keȝ', 'kyng', 'breke', and 'seoke'; even *cniht* ('knight') was subsequently changed to 'kniht' and *þic* ('thick') changed to 'thik' or 'thikk'. The Old English 'cw' was also at length displaced by the French 'qu' so that the Old English *cwén* ('queen') and *cwic* ('quick') became Middle English 'quen' 'quik', respectively. The sound Template:IPA, to which Old English palatalized Template:IPA had advanced, also occurred in French, chiefly from Latin Template:IPA before 'a'. In French it was represented by the digraph Template:Angbr, as in *champ* (from Latin *camp-um*) and this spelling was introduced into English: the Hatton Gospels, written about 1160, have in Matt. i-iii, *child, chyld, riche, mychel,* for the *cild, rice, mycel,* of the Old English version whence they were copied. In these cases, the Old English Template:Angbr gave place to Template:Angbr but, on the other hand, Template:Angbr in its new value of Template:IPA came in largely in French words like *processiun, emperice, grace,* and was also substituted for 'ts' in a few Old English words, as *miltse, bletsien,* in early Middle English *milce, blecien*. By the end of the thirteenth century both in France and England, this sound Template:IPA de-affricated to Template:IPA; and from that time Template:Angbr has represented Template:IPA before front vowels either for etymological reasons, as in *lance, cent,* or to avoid the ambiguity due to the "etymological" use of Template:Angbr for Template:IPA, 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 Template:Angbr. Former generations also wrote *Template:Lang* for *sense*. Hence, today the Romance languages and English have a common feature inherited from Vulgar Latin spelling conventions where Template:Angbr takes on either a "hard" or "soft" value depending on the following letter.

## Use in writing systems

### English

In English orthography, Template:Angbr generally represents the "soft" value of Template:IPAc-en before the letters Template:Angbr (including the Latin-derived digraphs Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, or the corresponding ligatures Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr), Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr, and a "hard" value of Template:IPAc-en 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 Template:IPAc-en where Template:IPAc-en would be expected.

The "soft" Template:Angbr may represent the Template:IPAc-en sound in the digraph Template:Angbr when this precedes a vowel, as in the words 'delicious' and 'appreciate'.

The digraph Template:Angbr most commonly represents Template:IPAc-en, but can also represent Template:IPAc-en (mainly in words of Greek origin) or Template:IPAc-en (mainly in words of French origin). For some dialects of English, it may also represent Template:IPAc-en in words like *loch*, while other speakers pronounce the final sound as Template:IPAc-en. The trigraph Template:Angbr always represents Template:IPAc-en.

The digraph Template:Angbr is often used to represent the sound Template:IPAc-en after short vowels.

### Other languages

In the Romance languages French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese, Template:Angbr generally has a "hard" value of Template:IPA and a "soft" value whose pronunciation varies by language. In French, Portuguese, Catalan and Spanish from Latin America and southern Spain, the soft Template:Angbr value is Template:IPA as it is in English. In the Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the soft Template:Angbr is a voiceless dental fricative Template:IPA. In Italian and Romanian, the soft Template:Angbr is Template:IPA.

All Balto-Slavic languages that use the Latin alphabet, as well as Albanian, Hungarian, Pashto, several Sami languages, Esperanto, Ido, Interlingua, and Americanist phonetic notation (and those aboriginal languages of North America whose practical orthography derives from it) use Template:Angbr to represent Template:IPA, the voiceless alveolar or voiceless dental sibilant affricate. In romanized Mandarin Chinese, the letter represents an aspirated version of this sound, Template:IPA.

Among non-European languages that have adopted the Latin alphabet, Template:Angbr represents a variety of sounds. Yup'ik, Indonesian, Malay, and a number of African languages such as Hausa, Fula, and Manding share the soft Italian value of Template:IPA. In Azeri, Crimean Tatar, Kurmanji Kurdish, and Turkish Template:Angbr stands for the voiced counterpart of this sound, the voiced postalveolar affricate Template:IPA. In Yabem and similar languages, such as Bukawa, Template:Angbr stands for a glottal stop Template:IPA. Xhosa and Zulu use this letter to represent the click Template:IPA. In some other African languages, such as Beninese Yoruba, Template:Angbr is used for Template:IPA. In Fijian, Template:Angbr stands for a voiced dental fricative Template:IPA, while in Somali it has the value of Template:IPA.

The letter Template:Angbr is also used as a transliteration of Cyrillic Template:Angbr in the Latin forms of Serbian, Macedonian, and sometimes Ukrainian, along with the digraph Template:Angbr.

### Other systems

As a phonetic symbol, lowercase Template:Angbr is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and X-SAMPA symbol for the voiceless palatal plosive, and capital Template:Angbr is the X-SAMPA symbol for the voiceless palatal fricative.

### Digraphs

There are several common digraphs with Template:Angbr, the most common being Template:Angbr, which in some languages (such as German) is far more common than Template:Angbr alone. Template:Angbr takes various values in other languages.

As in English, Template:Angbr, with the value Template:IPA, is often used after short vowels in other Germanic languages such as German and Swedish (but some other Germanic languages use Template:Angbr instead, such as Dutch and Norwegian). The digraph Template:Angbr is found in Polish and Template:Angbr in Hungarian, both representing Template:IPA. The digraph Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA in Old English, Italian, and a few languages related to Italian (where this only happens before front vowels, while otherwise it represents Template:IPA). The trigraph Template:Angbr represents Template:IPA in German.

## Related characters

### Ancestors, descendants and siblings

* 𐤂 : Semitic letter Gimel, from which the following symbols originally derive
	+ Template:Lang : Greek letter Gamma, from which C derives
		- G g : Latin letter G, which is derived from Latin C
* Phonetic alphabet symbols related to C:
	+ Template:IPA link : Small c with curl
	+ ʗ : stretched C
* ᶜ : Modifier letter small c
* ᶝ : Modifier letter small c with curl
* ᴄ : Small capital c is used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet.
* C with diacritics: Ć ć Ĉ ĉ Č č Ċ ċ Ḉ ḉ Ƈ ƈ C̈ c̈ Ȼ ȼ Ç ç ꞔ Ꞓ ꞓ
* Ↄ ↄ : Claudian letters

### Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols

* © : copyright symbol
* ℃ : degree Celsius
* ¢ : cent
* ₡ : colón (currency)
* ₢ : Brazilian cruzeiro (currency)
* ₵ : Ghana cedi (currency)
* ₠ : European Currency Unit CE
* ℂ : double struck C
* ℭ : blackletter C
* Ꜿ ꜿ : Medieval abbreviation for Latin syllables con- and com-, Portuguese -us and -os

## Computing codes

Template:Charmap

1 Template:Midsize

## External links

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Template:Latin script

1. ↑ "C" *Oxford English Dictionary,* 2nd edition (1989); *Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged* (1993); "cee", *op. cit.*
2. ↑ Template:Cite book
3. ↑ Template:Cite book
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Template:Cite web
5. ↑ Template:Cite web
6. ↑ Template:Cite web
7. ↑ Template:Cite web