The word 'fabric' also derives from Latin, most recently from the Middle French fabrique, or 'building, thing made', and earlier as the Latin fabrica 'workshop; an art, trade; a skilful production, structure, fabric', which is from the Latin faber, or 'artisan who works in hard materials', from PIE dhabh-, meaning 'to fit together'.

For groundwater, this means that C is a widely used tool to establish chronologies for groundwater flow systems and climate records for the Holocene and Pleistocene.