Cl
Abbreviation with 6 meanings
| Stands for | Chlorine |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 6 |
| Categories | Science & Engineering, Medical, Units & Measurements, Geography & Places, Technology & Computing, Law & Legal |
| Also written | CL, cL, cl. |
Cl has six meanings. The most common are Chlorine (chemical element) and Chloride (laboratory test); it can also stand for Centiliter, Chile, CAS latency and Clause.
Meanings of Cl at a glance
| # | Cl stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chlorine | Science & Engineering › Chemical Element |
| 2 | Chloride | Medical › Laboratory Test |
| 3 | Centiliter | Units & Measurements › Metric and SI Unit |
| 4 | Chile | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 5 | CAS latency | Technology & Computing › Computer Hardware |
| 6 | Clause | Law & Legal › Legal Citation |
1. Chlorine
Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations
A yellow-green, choking halogen gas with atomic number 17, chlorine is one of the most widely used industrial chemicals. It disinfects drinking water and swimming pools, is the main raw material for PVC plastic, and combines with sodium in table salt. Chlorine gas was used as a weapon at Ypres in 1915.
Example: Pool test strip: free Cl 2 ppm, pH 7.4, total alkalinity 100 ppm.
Carl Wilhelm Scheele produced the gas in 1774 but thought it contained oxygen; Humphry Davy showed in 1810 that it was an element and named it from Greek chloros (pale green, yellow-green). Household bleach is a solution of sodium hypochlorite, not dissolved chlorine gas. Mixing bleach with ammonia or acids releases toxic chloramine or chlorine gas.
2. Chloride
Medical · Laboratory Test Abbreviations
Major anion in the fluid outside cells, normally about 96 to 106 mEq/L, that tends to move with sodium. Chloride feeds into the anion gap calculation and helps classify acid-base disorders: large volumes of normal saline or diarrhea cause hyperchloremic acidosis, while vomiting and diuretics lower chloride and produce metabolic alkalosis.
Example: Cl 114 and HCO3 17 after six liters of saline; switching to lactated Ringer's.
Cl is also the chemical symbol for the element chlorine. The sweat chloride test for cystic fibrosis measures chloride in sweat rather than blood, with values of 60 mmol/L or more supporting the diagnosis. Abnormal chloride rarely causes symptoms on its own; its value lies in what it reveals about fluid and acid-base status.
3. Centiliter (cL)
Units & Measurements · Metric and SI Unit Abbreviations
One hundredth of a liter, 10 mL, widely used on European bottle labels, drinks menus and cocktail recipes. Standard wine bottles are labeled 75 cl in Europe, and many bars measure spirit pours in centiliters.
Example: The cocktail calls for 4 cL gin, 2 cL lemon juice and 1 cL sugar syrup.
Lowercase cl is the more common form on European packaging, though SI also allows cL. A US fluid ounce is about 2.96 cL, so bartenders often treat 3 cL as one ounce. British pubs serve spirits in 25 or 35 mL measures, so UK labels tend to use mL instead.
4. Chile (CL)
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Stretching about 4,300 kilometres along the Pacific, Chile is the world's largest copper producer. Santiago is the capital and CHL the alpha-3 code.
Example: Wine imports labeled CL come mostly from the Central Valley.
Sports bodies use CHI for Chile, while ISO uses CHL, so China (CHN) and Chile are easy to confuse. CL also abbreviates centilitre and classified (job) listings.
5. CAS latency (CL)
Technology & Computing · Computer Hardware Abbreviations
Number of clock cycles between a memory controller requesting a column of data and the RAM delivering it, the first and most quoted memory timing. Lower is better at the same speed, as in DDR5-6000 CL30.
Example: DDR4-3600 CL16 and DDR5-6000 CL30 have similar true latency, but the DDR5 has far more bandwidth.
CAS means column address strobe. Because latency is counted in cycles, it must be read together with speed: true latency in nanoseconds equals CL times 2,000 divided by the speed in MT/s, so DDR5-6000 CL30 works out to 10 ns. Other timings follow CL in spec sheets, as in 30-38-38-96. CL also means Chile's country code and confidence level in statistics.
6. Clause (cl.)
Law & Legal · Legal Citation Abbreviations
Pinpoint for a clause of a constitutional provision, used after the article and section, as in "U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3" for the Commerce Clause. The plural is "cls.". Contract drafters also use it informally to refer to numbered clauses of an agreement.
Example: The preemption argument cites the Supremacy Clause, U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2.
In text, well-known clauses are named rather than numbered: Commerce Clause, Necessary and Proper Clause (art. I, § 8, cl. 18), Supremacy Clause, Emoluments Clauses. The Fourteenth Amendment's clauses, such as Due Process and Equal Protection, are cited by section instead, because amendments are not divided into numbered clauses.
Related abbreviations
More chemical element abbreviations
- Ca – Calcium
- Cd – Cadmium
- Ce – Cerium
- Cf – Californium
- Cm – Curium
- Cn – Copernicium
- Co – Cobalt
- Cr – Chromium
See all 118 chemical element abbreviations →
More laboratory test abbreviations
- CBC w/ diff – Complete blood count with differential
- Chem 7 – Seven-test chemistry panel
- CK – Creatine kinase
- CK-MB – Creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme
- CLIA – Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments
- CMP – Comprehensive metabolic panel
- CO2 – Total carbon dioxide (serum bicarbonate)
- CPK – Creatine phosphokinase
See all 135 laboratory test abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical or legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.