C
/see/ · noun · Development · Origin: 1972
Definitions
The foundational systems programming language that has shaped virtually all modern computing. C was created to rewrite Unix, and its direct hardware access, minimal runtime, and portable design made it the language of operating systems, embedded systems, and performance-critical infrastructure. Most modern languages are either written in C or heavily influenced by it.
In plain English: The foundational programming language that most computers and operating systems are built with, created in the 1970s and still essential today.
Example: Linux, Windows, macOS, Python, Ruby, Node.js — at some point, every one of them bottoms out at C.
Origin Story
The language named after its predecessor's next letter
In 1972, Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs needed a language powerful enough to rewrite Unix but higher-level than assembly. He evolved Ken Thompson's **B language** (itself derived from BCPL) into something new. Following the alphabet, he simply called it **C**.
C's genius was giving programmers direct access to memory through pointers while still offering structured programming constructs. Ritchie and Brian Kernighan published *The C Programming Language* in 1978, and the book's spare, elegant style became as influential as the language itself.
By the mid-1980s, C had become the lingua franca of systems programming. The Unix kernel, most operating systems, and countless embedded systems were written in it. Nearly every popular language created since -- C++, Java, C#, Go, Rust -- owes its syntax to C.
Coined by: Dennis Ritchie
Context: Bell Labs, 1972
Fun fact: There was no language called 'A'. B was named after BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language), not the letter sequence. C just happened to follow B alphabetically by coincidence.