BCE
Religion abbreviation · Religious Term
| Stands for | Before the Common Era |
|---|---|
| Categories | Religion |
BCE stands for Before the Common Era, a religious term abbreviation also used in measurement.
Religiously neutral equivalent of BC, used in scholarship, museums, textbooks and Jewish writing for years before 1 CE, as in 586 BCE for the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. The numbers are identical to BC dates.
Example: Socrates was sentenced to death in Athens in 399 BCE.
Usage notes
BCE always follows the year. The term spread widely in American education and museums from the 1990s onward, sometimes drawing objections from people who prefer BC. Older sources may write B.C.E. with periods. Pairing BCE with AD, or BC with CE, is considered inconsistent.
Related abbreviations
More religious term abbreviations
- AMDG – Ad maiorem Dei gloriam (for the greater glory of God)
- AME – African Methodist Episcopal Church
- AMP – Amplified Bible
- AS – Alayhi as-salam (peace be upon him)
- ASV – American Standard Version
- BC – Before Christ
- BCP – Book of Common Prayer
- BH – Baruch Hashem (Blessed is God)
- BHS – Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
- BSD – B'siyata Dishmaya (with the help of Heaven)
- CCC – Catechism of the Catholic Church
- CCD – Confraternity of Christian Doctrine