<p>I find Ꞓ such an odd-looking symbol. What's the historical significance, etc, of that symbol? </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Latin letter C with bar
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7FCgD.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7FCgD.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>My understanding is, C was the Carboniferous, K for Cretaceous... why not just use a different letter?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-08T01:07:06.877Z
I suspect it is simply because it looks like a C but is distinguishable from the Carbaniferous, but am interested to see if there are documented answers. As a side note, it is used in other languages. Symbols come and go and what looks weird today may have been more recognised in earlier times.
haresfur
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-08T03:36:39.123Z
A lot of geological symbols are based on the assumption of hand drawn maps and sections. Geology has many unique symbols.  once you know that simply creating a new symbol based on C would make more sense than using some random letter. Not that there are that many letters left.
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-10T03:29:39.063Z
Cretaceous [is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous)
Keith McClary
<geology><time>
Why is Cambrian denoted with such a weird symbol?
matt
# Why is Cambrian denoted with such a weird symbol?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-06-07)

I find Ꞓ such an odd-looking symbol. What's the historical significance, etc, of that symbol?

> Latin letter C with bar
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/7FCgD.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/7FCgD.png)

My understanding is, C was the Carboniferous, K for Cretaceous... why not just use a different letter?

**Tags:** geology, time

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I suspect it is simply because it looks like a C but is distinguishable from the Carbaniferous, but am interested to see if there are documented answers. As a side note, it is used in other languages. Symbols come and go and what looks weird today may have been more recognised in earlier times.  
> **username_2**: A lot of geological symbols are based on the assumption of hand drawn maps and sections. Geology has many unique symbols.  once you know that simply creating a new symbol based on C would make more sense than using some random letter. Not that there are that many letters left.  
> **username_3**: Cretaceous [is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous)  

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