care of

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Short for in the care of or similar phrase.

Preposition

care of

1. (mail) For distribution by (the named intermediary).

   Could you please send this package to Mr. John Smith, care of the Northwest Shelter?

   Mailing address example:

John Smith
℅ Northwest Shelter
123 Emerson Dr
Springfield CA 94301

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 addressee. For example, when the addressee has no standard address, is under a corporate mail system, or is being manually forwarded mail sent to a more accessible location. In Australia and New Zealand c/- is often used in place of ℅.

Translations

for distribution by (the named intermediary)

• Arabic: عِنَايَة (ʕināya), رِعَايَة (riʕāya)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 代收 (zh) (dàishōu)

• Dutch: per adres
• French: a/s (fr), aux bons soins de (fr), à l’attention de (fr)
• German: c/o (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: presso (it)
• Japanese: 気付 (きづけ, kizuke), 方 (ja) (kata)
• Portuguese: a/c, aos cuidados de
• Spanish: a/a, a la atención de
• Turkish: ... eliyle (tr)