bac

Bac is a term that appears in a variety of contexts, serving as an abbreviation, a root, or a proper name. It does not have a single, universal meaning, but rather different, domain-specific uses.

In education, bac is the informal name for the baccalauréat, the national secondary-school examination in France and in some Francophone countries. The term is widely used in everyday language to refer to both the exam itself and the diploma that results from completing it, which may grant eligibility for higher education.

In science and medicine, BAC commonly stands for blood alcohol concentration, a measurement of ethanol in the bloodstream used in medical assessments and legal contexts to gauge intoxication. In biology and microbiology, the root bac- appears in terms describing rod-shaped organisms, such as bacillus, and in related taxonomic naming.

Outside these domains, BAC or similar forms are used as acronyms for organizations, processes, or stock symbols, and as a proper name in some languages and cultures. The exact meaning of bac in a given instance depends on the linguistic and disciplinary context in which it appears. For clarity, readers often rely on surrounding text to determine whether bac refers to the baccalauréat, blood alcohol concentration, a biological prefix, or another use.