SC
Abbreviation with 12 meanings
| Stands for | South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 12 |
| Categories | Geography & Places, Texting & Internet Slang, Medical, Science & Engineering, Writing & Everyday, Sports, Law & Legal, Religion |
| Also written | Sc, sc, sc. |
SC has 12 meanings. The most common are South Carolina (US state) and Snapchat (social media); it can also stand for Subcutaneous, Scandium, Scene, Scilicet (namely, that is to say) and Safety car, plus 5 more listed below.
Meanings of SC at a glance
| # | SC stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina | Geography & Places › US State |
| 2 | Snapchat | Texting & Internet Slang › Social Media |
| 3 | Subcutaneous | Medical › Medication Route |
| 4 | Scandium | Science & Engineering › Chemical Element |
| 5 | Scene | Writing & Everyday › Citation and Bibliography |
| 6 | Scilicet (namely, that is to say) | Writing & Everyday › Latin |
| 7 | Safety car | Sports › Other Sports |
| 8 | Seychelles | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 9 | Senior Counsel | Law & Legal › Legal Profession |
| 10 | Sculpsit (engraved it) | Writing & Everyday › Latin |
| 11 | Small capitals | Writing & Everyday › Proofreading and Correction Mark |
| 12 | Sisters of Charity | Religion › Religious Title |
1. South Carolina
Geography & Places · US State Abbreviations
The Palmetto State ratified the Constitution on May 23, 1788, as the eighth state, and on December 20, 1860, became the first state to secede before the Civil War. Columbia is the capital and Charleston the largest city.
Example: Hurricane evacuation routes out of Charleston, SC reverse all lanes of I-26.
S.C., with periods, is the AP and traditional form. The code dates from 1963. SC is also the ISO country code for Seychelles, and in medicine SC can mean subcutaneous, an abbreviation safety groups discourage. The palmetto on the state flag recalls the 1776 defense of Sullivan's Island, where a palmetto-log fort absorbed British cannon fire.
2. Snapchat
Texting & Internet Slang · Social Media Abbreviations
Shorthand for Snapchat, the disappearing-message and photo app, especially in "add me on SC" or "my SC is in bio." Popular among teens and young adults.
Example: Add me on SC, my username's the same as my IG.
Snapchat launched in 2011 and is known for messages that vanish after viewing, Streaks (consecutive days of snapping) and the Snap Map. Users often call it "snap." Parents' guides frequently explain SC because of safety concerns around disappearing content.
3. Subcutaneous
Medical · Medication Route Abbreviations
Older abbreviation for injection into the fatty layer under the skin, the route for insulin, heparin, enoxaparin and many biologics. ISMP lists SC as error-prone because it has been read as "SL" (sublingual), and recommends writing "subcut" or "subcutaneously".
Example: Old transcription: "enoxaparin 40 mg SC daily" was rewritten by pharmacy as 40 mg subcut daily.
Also written s.c. or sc. Medication-safety guidance treats SC, SQ, sub q and subq as one family of error-prone forms. In British and European usage "s.c." remains common and is printed on many product labels, which is why the abbreviation persists despite US recommendations.
4. Scandium (Sc)
Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations
A light, silvery transition metal with atomic number 21, scandium is added in small amounts to aluminum to make strong, weldable alloys for aerospace parts, bicycle frames and baseball bats. Scandium iodide in metal-halide lamps produces light close to daylight for stadiums and film sets.
Example: The frame tubing is an aluminum alloy with a trace of Sc for added strength at the welds.
Dmitri Mendeleev predicted an element he called eka-boron in 1871, and Lars Fredrik Nilson found it in 1879 in the Scandinavian minerals euxenite and gadolinite, naming it after Scandia, Latin for Scandinavia. Per Teodor Cleve soon recognized it as Mendeleev's predicted element, an early triumph of the periodic table.
5. Scene (sc.)
Writing & Everyday · Citation and Bibliography Abbreviations
Identifies a scene within an act of a play in citations and stage references, as in "act 3, sc. 1." It allows a passage to be located in any edition of the play.
Example: Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy appears in act 3, sc. 1 of Shakespeare's play.
MLA style favors compact numerals for plays, citing act, scene and line as 3.1.56-88 without abbreviations. Older editions used Roman numerals, as in III.i. The same letters abbreviate scilicet ("namely") in scholarly writing and sculpsit ("engraved it") on old prints.
6. Scilicet (namely, that is to say) (sc.)
Writing & Everyday · Latin Abbreviations
Inserts a clarifying word that the original text left unstated, particularly in translations, scholarly editions and legal glosses. It signals that what follows is the editor's or translator's interpretation of an implied word.
Example: The letter says only that "he" would sail in June (sc. the younger brother, Henry).
Scilicet is a contraction of scire licet, "it is permitted to know," and is also abbreviated scil. It is close to viz., but sc. typically supplies a missing or implied word, while viz. introduces a list. The same letters stand for sculpsit on engravings and for "scene" in references to plays, so context decides the meaning.
7. Safety car
Sports · Other Sports Abbreviations
Car deployed onto a racetrack after an accident or hazard, leading the field at reduced speed with overtaking banned until the track is cleared. Safety-car periods often reshuffle strategy because pit stops cost less time.
Example: The SC came out on lap 40, and the leaders all pitted at once.
Formula One first used a safety car at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix. NASCAR's equivalent is the pace car under a caution period. In US geography SC is the postal code for South Carolina.
8. Seychelles
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Indian Ocean archipelago of 115 islands with Victoria on Mahé as its capital, the smallest population of any African country. The giant tortoise and the coco de mer palm, with the world's heaviest seed, live there.
Example: Honeymoon packages to SC include a day trip to Praslin's Vallée de Mai.
The alpha-3 code is SYC. In US addresses SC is South Carolina.
9. Senior Counsel
Law & Legal · Legal Profession Abbreviations
Senior rank for barristers used in Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and some Australian states, written after the name as KC is elsewhere. Holders are also said to "take silk", as in the UK.
Example: The plaintiff retained a leading SC to cross-examine the expert witnesses in the Dublin High Court.
Hong Kong replaced QC with SC in 1997, and New South Wales adopted SC in 1993. Junior barristers in those systems are simply called counsel or junior counsel. In US usage, SC usually means South Carolina or the Supreme Court.
10. Sculpsit (engraved it) (sc.)
Writing & Everyday · Latin Abbreviations
Appears after an engraver's name on old prints, maps and banknotes to identify the person who cut the plate. It distinguishes the engraver from the artist of the original design, who is credited with pinx. or del.
Example: The lower right margin of the print reads "J. Basire sc.," naming the engraver who later trained William Blake.
Variants include sculp., sculpt. and sculps. Because 18th- and 19th-century reproductive prints were team efforts, plates were lettered with separate credits for the painter (pinxit), the draftsman (delineavit), the engraver (sculpsit) and sometimes the publisher (excudit). Collectors and catalogers use these credits to attribute and date impressions.
11. Small capitals (sc)
Writing & Everyday · Proofreading and Correction Mark Abbreviations
Calls for small capitals, capital letters about the height of lowercase letters, used in some styles for era abbreviations, acronyms and certain headings. Proofreaders indicate it with a double underline in the text.
Example: Set "a.d." in sc so the era abbreviation matches the house style for dates in the catalog.
True small capitals are specially designed glyphs; word processors often fake them by shrinking ordinary capitals, which then look too light beside the text. Chicago style traditionally set A.D. and B.C. in small capitals, and some publishers still do. The same letters abbreviate scene in play citations and scilicet in Latin.
12. Sisters of Charity
Religion · Religious Title Abbreviations
Several Catholic women's congregations use SC, tracing their roots to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1809. Independent communities based in Cincinnati, New York, Halifax and elsewhere continue her tradition.
Example: The College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati was founded by the SC sisters.
Elizabeth Ann Seton, canonized in 1975, was the first native-born US citizen declared a saint. Her community later united with the French Daughters of Charity. In other contexts SC means South Carolina or the Supreme Court.
Related abbreviations
More US state abbreviations
- OK – Oklahoma
- OR – Oregon
- PA – Pennsylvania
- RI – Rhode Island
- SD – South Dakota
- TN – Tennessee
- TX – Texas
- UT – Utah
See all 51 US state abbreviations →
More social media abbreviations
- QOTD – Quote of the day
- QT – Quote tweet
- RT – Retweet
- S4S – Shoutout for shoutout
- SFW – Safe for work
- SM – Social media
- SNS – Social networking service
- SO – Shout-out
See all 106 social media abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical or legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.