care of

English

Alternative forms

(abbreviation) ℅
(abbreviation) c/-
(abbreviation) c/o

Etymology

Short for in the care of or similar phrase.

Preposition

care of

(mail) For distribution by (the named intermediary).
Could you please send this package to Mr. John Smith, care of the Northwest Shelter?

Usage notes

Care of, usually abbreviated as ℅ on envelopes, signifies an intermediary who is responsible for transferring a piece of mail between the postal system and the final recipient. For example, when the final recipient (person or business A) has no address itself, the mail sender may want an intermediary (person or business B) who has an address to manually forward the mail to the final recipient. An example:

Person or business A
℅ Person or business B
Address of B

In Australia and New Zealand c/- is often used in place of ℅.

Translations

for distribution by (the named intermediary) — see also c/o

Arabic: عِنَايَة (ʕināya), رِعَايَة (riʕāya)
Chinese:
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 代收 (zh) (dàishōu)
Dutch: per adres
Esperanto: zorge de, per adreso
French: chez (fr)
Italian: presso (it)
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 気付 (きづけ, kizuke), ^{(please verify)} 方 (ja) (kata)
Polish: pod adresem
Portuguese: aos cuidados de
Spanish: a la atención de
Swedish: adress (sv)
Turkish: ... eliyle (tr) (literally “with the hand of”)

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