C • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of C

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/si/ Listen

noun

C n.

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 gamma, and came from the Greek alphabet. The Greeks got it from the Phoenicians. 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.

(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).

(c)

The "C clef," a modification of the letter C, placed on any line of the staff, shows that line to be middle C.

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.

See images of 'C'

Etymology of 'C'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"C" Quotes from Famous Books

... not original source material before him to quote now and then from the studies of writers on other phases of colonial life—such as the valuable books by Dr. Philip Alexander Bruce, Dr. John Bassett, Dr. George Sydney Fisher, Charles C. Coffin, Alice Brown, Alice Morse Earle, Anna ...

— Woman's Life in Colonial Days • Carl Holliday

... our intercepted information) that all these city negotiators—Mr. Wentworths, Bourdeaux, &c.—insinuate themselves into these sort of affairs merely for private advantages, and make their trust principally subservient to stock-jobbing views, on which subject there appears to be a surprising communication ...

— Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of George the Third - From the Original Family Documents, Volume 1 (of 2) • The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

... taken here; but the autumnal flies are less plentiful in this river than the spring flies—Phys, Pray tell me what are the species of fly which take in these two seasons.—Hal. You know that trout spawn or deposit their ova, &c. in the end of the autumn or beginning of winter, from the middle of November till the beginning of January, their maturity depending upon the temperature of the season, their quantity of food, &c. They are at least six weeks or two months after they have spawned before they recover their flesh; ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume XII., No. 324, July 26, 1828 • Various

... "What 'oo going to c'y for, daddy?" demanded the child, looking up hastily into her father's face. "Poor daddy!" she continued, stroking his cheek with her small brown ...

— The Golden Shoemaker - or 'Cobbler' Horn • J. W. Keyworth

... ELIZABETH C. STANTON.—My Dear Friend:—The "Woman's Rights Movement" has deeply interested your generous heart, and you have ever been ready to serve it with your vigorous understanding. It is, therefore, at the risk of appearing somewhat unkind and uncivil, that I give my honest answer to your question. ...

— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

More quotes...