C is the third letter of the Roman alphabet. In the Etruscan language, plosive consonants had no distinctive voicing, so they took over Greek Γ (Gamma) to write their /k/. In the beginning, the Romans used C for both /k/ and /g/, only later adding a horizontal bar at right-center to produce G. Perhaps at an even earlier time, it was /g/ only, while using K for /k/?
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
Some scholars claim that the Semitic ג (gîmel) was the picture of a camel. /k/ developed palatal and velar allophones in Latin, probably due to Etruscan influence. Therefore, C has many different sound values today, among them /k/ and /s/ in French, /k/ and /T/ (like English TH in THIN) in European Castilian, /k/ and /tS/ (like English CH) in Italian and so on.
In context, C can also be:
- The C programming language
- Vitamin C
- A musical note; see also Middle C
- A symbol for carbon in chemistry
- The Roman numeral for 100 (centum in Latin)
- A symbol for coulomb, the SI derived unit for electric charge.
- In mathematics
- the set of complex numbers
- with indices: the number of combinations, a binomial coefficient.
- The speed of light, c
- The stock symbol for Citigroup
- With a bar through it and in lower case, a symbol for cent, thus: ¢.
- A standard size dry cell battery.
- "see" in SMS or instant message