C • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of C

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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

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"C" Quotes from Famous Books

... of Congress had closed at Washington, some time before, and as almost all of the M. C.'s, U. S. S.'s, wire pullers, hangers on, blacklegs, horse jockeys, etc., etc., came over "the National Road" to Wheeling, to take the river for Southern and Western destinations, of course the assemblage ...

— The Humors of Falconbridge - A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes • Jonathan F. Kelley

... more favourable by these recent transactions. "I fear," said Heneage, "that the world will judge what Champagny wrote in one of his letters out of England (which I have lately seen) to be over true. His words be these, 'Et de vray, c'est le plus fascheux et le plus incertain negocier de ceste court, que je pense soit au monde.'" And so "basting," as he said, "with a weak body and a willing mind; to do, he feared, no good work," he set forth from Middelburgh to rejoin Leicester at ...

— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... Dr. Ingram writes:—"This word has never been correctly explained; its original signification is the same, whether written felds, fields, velts, welds, wilds, wylte, wealds, walds, walz, wolds, &c. &c." And on heath, he says:—"Mr. Forster seems to have read Haefeldan (or Haethfeldan), which indeed, I find in the Junian MS. inserted as a various reading by Dr. Marshall (MSS. Jun. 15.). It also occurs, further on in the MS., without any various reading. I have therefore ...

— Notes and Queries 1850.02.23 • Various

... of his reign [512 B.C.] Ho Lu, king of Wu, took the field with Tzu-hsu [i.e. Wu Yuan] and Po P'ei, and attacked Ch'u. He captured the town of Shu and slew the two prince's sons who had formerly been generals of Wu. He was then meditating a descent on Ying [the capital]; but ...

— The Art of War • Sun Tzu

... of curiosity has a hold of you, Molly; remember the fable they made us repeat: De loin c'est quelque chose, et de pres ce n'est rien. Now you shall go straight into your ...

— The Light of Scarthey • Egerton Castle

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