View source for C

{{short description|3rd 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]].}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{pp-move-indef}}
{{Infobox grapheme
|name = C
|letter = C c
|variations=
|script=[[Latin script]]
|type=[[Alphabet]]
|typedesc=ic
|language=[[Latin language]]
|phonemes={{grid list|[{{IPAlink|c}}]|[{{IPAlink|k}}]|[{{IPAlink|t͡ʃ}}]|[{{IPAlink|t͡s}}({{IPAlink|ʰ}})]|[{{IPAlink|d͡ʒ}}]|[{{IPAlink|ʃ}}]|[{{IPAlink|s|s̝}}]|[{{IPAlink|ʕ}}]|[{{IPAlink|ʔ}}]|[{{IPAlink|θ}}]|others}}
|unicode=U+0043, U+0063
|alphanumber=3
|number=[[Roman numerals|100]]
|fam1=[[File:Camelus bactrianus-sil.svg|20px|Pictogram of a Camel]]
|fam2=<hiero>T14</hiero>
|fam3=[[Image:Proto-semiticG-01.svg|20px|Gimel]]
|fam4=[[Image:Phoenician gimel.svg|20px|Gimel]]
|fam5=[[File:Greek Gamma 03.svg|20px|Early Greek Gamma]]
|fam6=[[File:Early Etruscan C.svg|20px|Early Etruscan C]]
|fam7=[[Gamma|Γ γ]]
|fam8=[[𐌂]]
|sisters={{grid list|[[Г]]|[[G]]|[[wikt:Գ|Գ]] [[wikt:գ|գ]]|[[Gimel|𐡂]]|[[Gimel|ࠂ]]|[[Gimel|ג]]|[[Gimel|ܓ]]|[[Gimel|ج]]}}
|image=File:Latin_letter_C.svg}}
{{Latin letter info|c}}

[[File:Copyright.svg|thumb|right|100px|'''C''' in [[copyright symbol]]]]
'''C''', or '''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}}), 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"
|-
! Egyptian
! Phoenician <br />''[[gimel|gaml]]''
! Western Greek<br />''[[Gamma]]''
! Etruscan<br />C
! Old Latin<br />C (G)
! [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] <br />C
|- style="background:white; 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 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|frameless|17x17px]]' form in Early Etruscan, then '[[File:Classical Etruscan C.gif|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.

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}}</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 ''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 modern 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|/k<sup>w</sup>/}} (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 ''candel'', ''clif'', ''corn'', ''crop'', and ''cú'', remained unchanged, ''cent'', ''cǣᵹ'' (''cēᵹ''), ''cyng'', ''brece'', and ''sēoce'', were now (without any change of sound) spelled ''Kent'', ''keȝ'', ''kyng'', ''breke'', and {{lang|enm|seoke}}; even {{lang|ang|cniht}} ('knight') was subsequently changed to {{lang|enm|kniht}}, and {{lang|ang|þic}} ('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}} ('queen') and {{lang|ang|cwic}} ('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 ''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, ''child'', ''chyld'', ''riche'', and ''mychel'', for the ''cild'', ''rice'', and ''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 ''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 ''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
!Phonemes
!Environment
|-
! [[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, y
|-
|{{IPAslink|s}}
|Before e, i, y
|-
! 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}}
|
|}

===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]], 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 language|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 language|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|/t͡s<sup>h</sup>/}}.

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 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==
<!-- Please only list characters (symbols in a writing system, but not just convenience code points in Unicode) that are actually related in terms of origin to the letter that is the topic of this article. Characters that merely look subjectively similar need not apply. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources before adding more. -->

===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 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 [[Ȝ]], 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>
*[[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>
Add to C with diacritics:
*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 <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"></span>===
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
}}

{{clear}}

==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}}

{{Latin script|C|}}

[[Category:ISO basic Latin letters]]