C

C, third letter of the alphabet. In position and form, but not in meaning, it corresponds to Greek gamma (see G). In English it is pronounced variously, e.g., in can, cent, church, and loch. In musical notation it symbolizes a note in the scale. In chemistry it is the symbol of the element carbon. The capital letter is the Roman numeral for 100.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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