What does CC stand for in email?

CC stands for Carbon Copy in email. It sends a visible copy of a message to additional recipients besides those listed in the To field.

The term comes from carbon paper, once placed between sheets of paper to create duplicate typed or handwritten documents. Business letters traditionally listed copied recipients beneath the signature using “CC,” and email retained the abbreviation even after carbon paper disappeared from everyday office work.

People included in the To and CC fields can generally see one another’s addresses. That distinguishes CC from BCC, or Blind Carbon Copy, which hides those recipients from other people on the message. A useful rule is to use CC when everyone should know who is being kept informed, and BCC when recipient privacy matters.

Carbon copies were widely used from roughly the 1870s through the 1980s. The practice declined as photocopiers, word processors, and electronic distribution became common, but its vocabulary remains embedded in email software.