C

1. 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.
2. after the clef is the mark of common time, in which each measure is a semibreve (four fourths or crotchets); for alla breve time it is written /.
3. The clef, a modification of the letter C, placed on any line of the staff, shows that line to be middle C.
4. 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 was the same letter as the Greek /, /, and came from the Greek alphabet. The Greeks got it from the Ph/nicians. The English name of is from the Latin name ce, and was derived, probably, through the French. Etymologically 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.
5. As a numeral, stands for Latin centum or 100, Cfor 200, etc.