Common Era
"BCE" redirects here. For other uses, see BCE (disambiguation). "Era Vulgaris" redirects here. For the Queens of the Stone Age album, see Era Vulgaris (album). Common Era or Current Era ( CE ) [1] is one of the notation systems for the world's most widely used calendar era. BCE ( Before the Common Era / Before the Current Era ) is the era before CE. BCE and CE are alternatives to the Dionysian AD and BC system. The Dionysian era distinguishes eras using AD ( anno Domini , "[the] year of [the] Lord") [2] and BC ("before Christ"). Since the two notation systems are numerically equivalent, "2018 CE" corresponds to "AD 2018" and "400 BCE" corresponds to "400 BC". [2] [3] [4] [a] Both notations refer to the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar). The year-numbering system utilized by the Gregorian calendar is used throughout the world today, and is an international standard