C, the German Kurrent letter c
C is the 3rd letter of the German alphabet, representing a voiceless alveolar affricate /ts/ before front vowels in loanwords, or a voiceless velar plosive /k/ before back vowels and in native consonant clusters like 'ch' and 'ck'. In German Kurrent handwriting, it has a distinct historical ductus taught across German-speaking Europe until 1941.
In words
Schwester · sister
herzlich · warmly
Weihnachten · Christmas
History
The letter C occupies the 3rd position in the German alphabet. Phonetically, it represents a voiceless alveolar affricate /ts/ before front vowels in loanwords, or a voiceless velar plosive /k/ before back vowels and in native consonant clusters like 'ch' and 'ck'.
Lowercase c in Kurrent is a small, compact character confined to the middle zone. It is constructed from a short upward stroke, a small downward hook or tick at the top, and a base curve that carries the line forward. Because of its minimal structure, it can be easily misread as half of an e or an undotted i. Capital C is a broad, sweeping crescent opening to the right, often crowned with an ornate head loop.
In native German words, c almost never stands alone; it functions almost entirely within the digraph 'ch' and trigraph 'sch', as well as the geminate 'ck'. In Latinate legal and ecclesiastic terms ('Copulation', 'Curator', 'Contract'), standalone C was standard in parish registers until the twentieth-century spelling reforms.