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-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|[{{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|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Pictogram of a Camel]]
|fam2=<hiero>T14</hiero>
|fam3=[[Image:Proto-semiticG-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Gimel]]
|fam4=[[Image:Phoenician gimel.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Gimel]]
|fam5=[[File:Greek Gamma 03.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Early Greek Gamma]]
|fam6=[[File:Early Etruscan C.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Early Etruscan C]]
|fam7=[[Gamma|Γ γ]]
|fam8=[[𐌂]]
|sisters={{flex 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
|imageclass=skin-invert-image
}}
{{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|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"
|-
! 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; background:light-dark(white,black); text-align:center;"
| {{align|center|<hiero>T14</hiero>}}
|[[File:Phoenician gimel.svg|class=skin-invert-image|30px|Phoenician gimel]]
|[[File:Greek Gamma archaic 1.svg|class=skin-invert-image|30px|Greek Gamma]]
|[[File:EtruscanC-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|30px|Etruscan C]]
|[[File:Old Latin G.svg|class=skin-invert-image|30px|Old Latin]]
|[[File:Capitalis monumentalis C.svg|class=skin-invert-image|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|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.

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 {{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 modern Romance languages (for example, in [[Italian language|Italian]]).{{Clarify|reason=In the Old English period, the modern Romance languages hadn't yet solidified. Perhaps this should say "the Vulgar Latin dialects that would become the modern Romance languages".|date=April 2025}}

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 {{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
!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, 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==
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===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]]