C is the third letter and the second consonant in the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It originated from the Greek letter Gamma and the Phoenician letter Gimel. In modern English, 'c' has a soft sound (like 's') before 'e', 'i', or 'y', and a hard sound (like 'k') otherwise. It is also used extensively as a symbolic representation in mathematics, physics, and computing, famously denoting the speed of light or the number 100.