Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


C

C

.
(sē)
1.
C is the third letter of the English alphabet. It is from the Latin letter C, which in old Latin represented the sounds of k, and g (in go); its original value being the latter. In Anglo-Saxon words, or Old English before the Norman Conquest, it always has the sound of k. The Latin C was the same letter as the Greek Γ, γ, and came from the Greek alphabet. The Greeks got it from the Phœnicians. The English name of C is from the Latin name ce, and was derived, probably, through the French. Etymologically C is related to g, h, k, q, s (and other sibilant sounds). Examples of these relations are in L. acutus, E. acute, ague; E. acrid, eager, vinegar; L. cornu, E. horn; E. cat, kitten; E. coy, quiet; L. circare, OF. cerchier, E. search.
See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 221-228.
2.
(Mus.)
(a)
The keynote of the normal or “natural” scale, which has neither flats nor sharps in its signature; also, the third note of the relative minor scale of the same.
(b)
C after the clef is the mark of common time, in which each measure is a semibreve (four fourths or crotchets); for alla breve time it is written [GREEK].
(c)
The “C clef,” a modification of the letter C, placed on any line of the staff, shows that line to be middle C.
3.
As a numeral, C stands for Latin
centum
or 100, CC for 200, etc.
C spring
,
a spring in the form of the letter C.

Webster 1828 Edition


C

C

, the third letter in the English alphabet, and the second articulation or consonant, is a palatal, nearly corresponding in sound with the Greek x, kappa, and with the Hebrew, caph. It bears a middle place in pronunciation, between the aspirate, and the palatal. It is a Roman character, borrowed from the Gr.x, or from the oriental, which was used in languages written from right to left, and when inverted and the corners rounded, becomes C. In the old Etruscan, it was written with the corners rounded, but not inverted; in Arcadian, C, as now written. That its sound in Latin was the same, or nearly the same, as that of kappa, may be known from the fact, that the Greeks, while the Latin was a living language, wrote kappa for the Roman C. Perhaps the same character may be the basis of the Arabic.
As an abbreviature, C stands for Caius, Carolus, Caesar, condemno, &c., and CC for consulibus. As a numeral C stands for 100; CC for 200; &c. In music, C after the cliff, is the mark of common time.
In English, C has two sounds, or rather it represents two very different articulations of the organs; one close, like K, which occurs before a, o and u; the other, a sibilant, precisely like s, which occurs before E, I and Y. The former is distinguished in this vocabulary by C, which may be called ke. In Russ. C is precisely the English s, as it was in the old Greek alphabet.

Definition 2024


U+1E08, Ḉ
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA AND ACUTE
Composition: C [U+0043] + ̧ [U+0327] + ́ [U+0301]

[U+1E07]
Latin Extended Additional
[U+1E09]

Translingual

Letter

upper case (lower case )

  1. The letter C with a cedilla and an acute accent.

See also

U+1E09, ḉ
LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA AND ACUTE
Composition: c [U+0063] + ̧ [U+0327] + ́ [U+0301]

[U+1E08]
Latin Extended Additional
[U+1E0A]

Translingual

Letter

lower case (upper case )

  1. The letter c with a cedilla and an acute accent.

See also