Significance and history
C is a consonant [Con = with; son = sound; ant = causing] and may be spelled, “cee”.
C is a derived from the Greek gamma and the Semitic gimel.
The original meaning for gimel is “camel”. The Phoenician symbol was sideways, pointed up like a camel’s hump, but perhaps the original symbol was meant to be a throwing stick like a boomerang.
As an abbreviation, C stands for Centigrade or Celsius; century; circa, or cubic.
The Roman numeral C is a symbol for 100.
cf. stands for “compare”, from the Latin, conferre.
Special characters
© stands for copyright. A copyright statement consists of the copyright symbol ( © ), the author’s name or the publishers, and the date of publication.
© 1973, John W. & Sons, Inc.
Copyright © Charlotte Gray, 1999
Exercises
- Can you think of any abbreviations or acronyms beginning with the letter C?
English Manual: Letter by Letter 