BC

1.
abbr. British Columbia.
2.
abbr. (of a date) before Christ.

* * *

adverb

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

-

in 200 BC

• Syn: ↑B.C., ↑before Christ

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abbreviation

1. [Italian basso continuo] thorough bass

2. battery commander

3. before Christ

4. bicycle club

5. board of control

6. boat club

7. borough council

8. bowling club

9. broadcast

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Scuba Diving.

1. buoyancy compensator.

2. British Columbia, Canada (approved for postal use).

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abbrev

1. Battery Commander

2. (also B.C.) before Christ (used in dating to indicate the number of years before the year once thought to be that of Christ's birth)

3. Board of Control

4. British Columbia (Canadian province)

5. British Council

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BC UK [ˌbiː ˈsiː] US [ˌbi ˈsi] abbreviation

before Christ: used after a date to show that it refers to a time before the birth of Jesus Christ

Thesaurus: years and numbers of years_hyponym

See also: AD ▪ BCE

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b.c.,

bass clarinet.

BC (no periods),

before Christ.

B.C.,

1. U.S. Bachelor of Chemistry.

2. bass clarinet.

3. before Christ. _B.C. is used for times before the birth of Christ and always appears after the figure for the year. _A.D. is used for times after the birth of Christ and now usually appears before the figure for a specific year. 350 _B.C. is 100 years earlier than 250 _B.C. From 20 _B.C. to _A.D. 50 is 70 years.

4. British Columbia.

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abbr.

■ before Christ (used to indicate that a date is before the Christian Era)

■ British Columbia (in official postal use)

■ Batallion Commander

••

Usage

In recent years, some writers have begun using the abbreviations ce (of the Common Era) in place of ad, and bce (before the Common Era) in place of bc

See also usage at AD

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(or chiefly US B.C.) abbr

before Christ

— used to refer to the years that came before the birth of Jesus Christ

550 B.C.

in the fifth century B.C. [=between the years 499 and 400 B.C.]

compare

A.D.

,

B.C.E.

,

C.E.

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BC (BrE) (US B.C.) [ˌbiː ˈsiː] [ˌbiː ˈsiː] abbreviation

before Christ (used in the Christian ↑calendar to show a particular number of years before the year when Christ is believed to have been born)

•

in (the year) 2000 BC

•

the third century BC

compare ↑AD, ↑AH, ↑BCE, ↑CE

 

Culture:

the calendar [BC the calendar]

Britain and the US follow the Gregorian calendar, which replaced the Roman Julian calendar in 1752. The year is divided into 12 months, with 30 or 31 days in each month, except February, which has 28 days. An extra day is added to February every fourth year, called a leap year, to keep the calendar in time with the moon. A well-known verse helps people remember how many days there are in each month: Thirty days hath September, April, June and November. All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone, Which hath twenty-eight days clear, and twenty-nine in each leap year.

The calendar year starts on 1 January, ↑New Year's Day. The number of each year (2003, 2004, et c. ) represents the number of years that have passed since the birth of Jesus Christ. The year 2000 marked the end of the second millennium (= a period of 1 000 years) since Christ was born. The years before Christ are described as BC (= before Christ), e.g. 55 BC, or BCE (= before the Common Era). The abbreviations AD (Latin Anno Domini, meaning ‘in the year of the Lord’) or CE (= Common Era) are put before or after the date for the years after Christ’s birth, e.g. AD 44 or 44 AD, but they are not used with years after about 200 AD. Some cultural and religious groups use different calendars: the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar began during the year 5760 in the Jewish calendar, 1420 in the Islamic calendar and 1921 in the Hindu calendar.

The academic year used by schools and colleges in Britain runs from September to July, with short holidays at ↑Christmas and in the spring and a long summer vacation. In the US the academic year runs from August or September to May or June. Many business companies have a financial year (= a period of accounting) that runs from April to the following March. The tax year in the US is the same as the calendar year but the tax year in Britain begins on 5 April. The reason is that in ↑medieval times the calendar year began on 25 March, not 1 January. When the Gregorian Calendar was introduced, an adjustment was needed and 11 days were removed from September 1752. To avoid being accused of collecting a full year’s taxes in a short year, the government extended the end of the tax year 1752–3 to 4 April.

Many festivals are celebrated during the year. Christmas and Easter are the main Christian festivals. Jews remember Passover and Yom Kippur. Ramadan, a month of fasting, and Eid ul-Fitr are celebrated by Muslims. Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, takes place in October or November, and the Chinese celebrate their new year in January or February. Special occasions such as ↑Bonfire Night in Britain and Thanksgiving in the US are enjoyed by almost everyone.