Celluloid, the first synthetic plastic material, developed in the 1860s and 1870s from a homogeneous colloidal dispersion of nitrocellulose and camphor.
The meaning of AD is Anno Domini or Year of our Lord referring to the year of Christâs birth. The meaning of BC is Before Christ. CE is a recent term. It refers to Common Era and is used in place of A.D. the dates are the same i.e., 2009 AD is 2009 CE. BCE means Before Common Era. For example 400 BC is 400 BCE.
In most usages, BCE stands for âBefore the Common Era,â and CE stands for âCommon Era.â BCE is used in place of BC, and CE is used in place of AD. The word âCommonâ in both instances refers to the date employed by the most commonly used calendar system, the Gregorian Calendar. The years are the same, only the designations are different. For example, 400 BCE is the same as 400 BC, and 2011 CE is the same as 2011 AD. There is another less frequent meaning in use for the âCâ in the new BCE and CE designations, in that the âCâ stands for âCurrent,â the implication being that there is yet another era still to come.