b.c.

1. 1.

   before the Christian era; used following dates before the supposed year Christ was born

   “in 200 BC”

   SynonymsBCbefore Christ

Questions about b.c.

What does b.c. mean?

b.c. means "before the Christian era; used following dates before the supposed year Christ was born".

How many syllables are in b.c.?

b.c. has 2 syllables, though it cannot be divided in writing — the spelling has fewer vowels than the word has beats. In IPA it is /ˌbiˈsi/.

What is another word for b.c.?

Close synonyms include BC, before Christ. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is b.c. a common word?

b.c. is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.