CI
Abbreviation with 10 meanings
| Stands for | Confidence interval |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 10 |
| Categories | Units & Measurements, Medical, Government & Politics, Technology & Computing, Transportation & Travel, Geography & Places, Business & Finance |
| Also written | Ci |
CI has ten meanings. The most common are Confidence interval (statistics) and Cochlear implant (ophthalmology & ENT); it can also stand for Confidential informant, Continuous integration, China Airlines, Cardiac index and Côte d'Ivoire, plus 3 more listed below.
Meanings of CI at a glance
| # | CI stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confidence interval | Units & Measurements › Statistics |
| 2 | Cochlear implant | Medical › Ophthalmology & ENT |
| 3 | Confidential informant | Government & Politics › Police |
| 4 | Continuous integration | Technology & Computing › Programming |
| 5 | China Airlines | Transportation & Travel › Airline Code |
| 6 | Cardiac index | Medical › Cardiology |
| 7 | Côte d'Ivoire | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 8 | Commercial invoice | Business & Finance › Logistics, Supply Chain & Trade |
| 9 | Continuous improvement | Business & Finance › Management & Strategy |
| 10 | Curie | Units & Measurements › Engineering Unit |
1. Confidence interval
Units & Measurements · Statistics Abbreviations · also used in medicine
A range computed from sample data that would contain the true population value in a stated share of repeated samples, most commonly 95 percent. It conveys both the estimate and its uncertainty.
Example: The treatment reduced systolic blood pressure by 8 mmHg (95% CI 5 to 11).
A 95 percent CI does not mean there is a 95 percent probability that this particular interval contains the true value; the 95 percent describes the long-run behavior of the method. If a 95 percent CI for a difference excludes zero, the result is significant at the 0.05 level. Jerzy Neyman formalized confidence intervals in 1937.
2. Cochlear implant
Medical · Ophthalmology & ENT Abbreviations
Surgically implanted device that bypasses damaged hair cells by directly stimulating the auditory nerve with an electrode array in the cochlea, connected to an external sound processor. It provides access to sound for people with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss who gain little from hearing aids.
Example: Bilateral profound SNHL at 10 months, minimal benefit from hearing aids; CI candidacy evaluation.
The FDA approved the first cochlear implant for adults in 1984 and for children in 1990, and approval now extends to infants as young as nine months. Early implantation in deaf children supports spoken language development. The device is a source of debate within the Deaf community. In statistics and cardiology CI means confidence interval or cardiac index.
3. Confidential informant
Government & Politics · Police Abbreviations · also used in law
Person who secretly provides information to police about criminal activity, often in exchange for money, leniency on their own charges or other benefits. CIs are central to many drug investigations and search warrant applications.
Example: The search warrant relied on a CI who had bought heroin at the house twice in the past week.
Agencies register informants and keep their identities secret, and courts generally protect that confidentiality unless the informant is a key witness. Reliance on unreliable CIs has led to wrongful raids and convictions, prompting reforms. The FBI calls its informants confidential human sources (CHS). In intelligence work, CI means counterintelligence.
4. Continuous integration
Technology & Computing · Programming Abbreviations
The practice of merging every developer's changes into a shared main branch frequently, often several times a day, with an automated build and test run on each change so integration problems surface within minutes.
Example: CI is red on main again; someone merged without waiting for the integration tests.
Grady Booch used the term in 1991, and Kent Beck's Extreme Programming made it a core practice in the late 1990s. A "CI server" or "CI pipeline" runs the checks, and a failing build is expected to be fixed immediately. Continuous delivery and deployment are built on top of it.
5. China Airlines
Transportation & Travel · Airline Code Abbreviations
Taiwan's largest airline and national carrier, based at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and a member of SkyTeam. Despite its name, it is unrelated to mainland China's airlines.
Example: CI 5 from Los Angeles to Taipei is often cheaper than nonstops to Bangkok.
ICAO code CAL; callsign "Dynasty." Founded in 1959. The airline has long been confused with Air China (CA), the flag carrier of the People's Republic. Its plum blossom tail logo was introduced in 1995 to replace the Republic of China flag.
6. Cardiac index
Medical · Cardiology Abbreviations
Cardiac output divided by body surface area, allowing comparison between people of different sizes; normal is about 2.5 to 4.0 liters per minute per square meter. A cardiac index below 1.8 without support, or below 2.2 with inotropes or devices, is a common hemodynamic criterion for cardiogenic shock.
Example: Swan numbers: CI 1.7, PCWP 26, SVR 1,800, consistent with cold and wet cardiogenic shock.
The Forrester classification (1976) combines cardiac index and wedge pressure into four hemodynamic subsets that guide therapy after heart attack. CI is preferred over raw cardiac output when deciding on inotropes and mechanical support. In statistics CI means confidence interval, a far more common meaning in research papers.
7. Côte d'Ivoire
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
The government of Côte d'Ivoire asks that the country be called by its French name rather than Ivory Coast. Yamoussoukro is the official capital and Abidjan the economic center; the alpha-3 code is CIV.
Example: Cocoa contracts list CI as the origin, since the country grows about 40 percent of the world's supply.
Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest cocoa producer. The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro is among the largest churches in the world. CI also means confidence interval.
8. Commercial invoice
Business & Finance · Logistics, Supply Chain & Trade Abbreviations
Seller's invoice for internationally shipped goods, listing parties, description, quantities, unit values, currency, Incoterm and country of origin. Customs authorities use it to assess duties and taxes.
Example: Customs held the shipment because the CI was missing the country of origin.
Undervaluing goods on a commercial invoice to reduce duties is customs fraud. Shipments of samples or gifts still need a pro forma or commercial invoice stating a value. In management, CI means continuous improvement.
9. Continuous improvement
Business & Finance · Management & Strategy Abbreviations
Ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes through many small, incremental changes rather than occasional large overhauls. CI programs encourage frontline employees to suggest and test improvements, often using PDCA cycles or kaizen events.
Example: Our CI team logged 230 employee suggestions last year, and 140 were implemented.
Closely linked to the Japanese concept of kaizen and to lean management. Many companies have dedicated CI managers or a CI office. In software, CI usually means continuous integration, an unrelated meaning.
10. Curie (Ci)
Units & Measurements · Engineering Unit Abbreviations
An older unit of radioactivity equal to 3.7 × 10^10 decays per second, roughly the activity of one gram of radium-226. US regulators and medical isotope suppliers still use curies and millicuries, while most of the world uses becquerels.
Example: The technetium-99m dose was 20 mCi for the bone scan.
Named after Marie and Pierre Curie and defined in 1910. One curie equals 37 gigabecquerels. Radon in US homes is measured in picocuries per liter (pCi/L), with 4 pCi/L as the EPA action level. Diagnostic doses of technetium-99m are typically in the tens of millicuries.
Related abbreviations
More statistics abbreviations
- BIC – Bayesian information criterion
- BLUE – Best linear unbiased estimator
- CDF – Cumulative distribution function
- CFA – Confirmatory factor analysis
- CLT – Central limit theorem
- Cov – Covariance
- CV – Coefficient of variation
- df – Degrees of freedom
See all 88 statistics abbreviations →
More ophthalmology & ENT abbreviations
- BRVO – Branch retinal vein occlusion
- C/D – Cup-to-disc ratio
- CF – Counting fingers
- CHL – Conductive hearing loss
- CRAO – Central retinal artery occlusion
- CRS – Chronic rhinosinusitis
- CRVO – Central retinal vein occlusion
- CSOM – Chronic suppurative otitis media
See all 74 ophthalmology & ENT abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.