The Letter C

The letter c can have five sounds and be silent: "k" / "s" / "ch" / "sh" / "q- cue".

In this lesson, we're looking at its sounds, rules and history

Hard c "k" sound (before a, o, u) cod, cat, curl, cold, cross
Soft c "s" sound (before e, i, y) city, nice, face, circle, cement, cigarette, cinema, cyst, cycle, flaccid
Hard c "k" sound with -cc- account, soccer, accrue, occupy, yucca, occasion
Soft c "s" sound with-cc-  accept, eccentric, occidental
"ch" sound: cello, vermicelli, cappuccino. These are foreign borrowed words
"sh"sound: special, liquorice, ocean
Silent c: muscle, science, indict
"q" "cue" sound: cue, cucumber, cure, curiosity

We can have the British kerb vs. American curb, and disk (British) v disc (American).

Since the 1700s, the Q, K, S sounds are or have been used for Islam’s holy book: Coran, Koran to the now-favoured Quran or Qur’an.

Let's look at the history of this letter and why it's a 'strange' one.

In Anglo-Saxon English, C was pronounced "k" or "ch" then the French invaded in 1066 and introduced the soft C ("s" sound).

The French scribes wrote C before i and e making it a soft "s" sound: cell, city, procession, cellar, citizen, grace, palace

Modern words follow this old rule:

A soft c "s" before i, e or y: cinema, decide, celebrate, cemetery, cyber, cigarette, cylinder, centre/center, decision, cent, acceptance.

A hard c "k" before a, o, u, or a consonant, or at the end of words: can, could, cut, class, public, back, colour/color, Canada, claim

Some words can have both sounds:
bicycle
cycle
cybernetics
reconcile ( re con cile - hard c before o and soft c before i

It’s a good rule but with all rules there are exceptions so look out for them. 

Let's do a spelling test. Have you got a piece of paper and pen?

Enjoy! Make mistakes and learn from them — that’s the key to being great!

Keep revising, reviewing and repeating to remember.