How has the pronunciation of the letter c developed?

1. How is the letter C pronounced?
2. How was the letter C invented?
3. Why is C pronounced differently?
4. How did the Romans pronounce the letter c?

How is the letter C pronounced?

Pronunciation of 'c', or sounds of the letter 'c' The letter 'c' is usually pronounced as a /k/ sound in English. But actually, letter c has two sounds. It can be pronounced as a /k/ or /s/ sound.

How was the letter C invented?

Like the letter G, C emerged from the Phoenician letter gimel (centuries later, gimel became the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet). In ancient Rome, as the Latin alphabet was being adapted from the Greek and Etruscan alphabets, G and C became disambiguated by adding a bar to the bottom end of the C.

Why is C pronounced differently?

TLDR: Because Latin mostly first came to English through French, we picked up the French habit of pronouncing most Latin-derived words with ⟨ce⟩ and ⟨ci⟩ using /s/ or sometimes /ʃ/, but never /k/. We also got into the habit of not changing spellings once established.

How did the Romans pronounce the letter c?

c before e, i, y, ae, oe is pronounced ch: coelo (cheh-loh); in all other cases, c is pronounced k: cantus (kahn-toos).