Definition of "BCE"

BCE

adverb
not comparable
1. (chronology) Initialism of Before Common Era (Before the Common Era, before Common Era, before the Common Era), Before Current Era (Before the Current Era, before current era, before the current era), or before Christian Era.
  Quotations
  We now know that circa 1600 BCE, the angara were created and seeded across Heleus by the Jardaan. Records of this process are less substantial than ancient angaran history, but it was apparently in service of a grand experiment.
  2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Angara: History Codex entry
  The earliest reliable accounts of Chinese eclipses come from Spring and Autumn Annals (Ch’un-ch’iu), recording eclipses from 772 to 481 BCE, including a total solar eclipse in 709 BCE.
  2017, Mark Littmann, Fred Espenak, “Ancient Efforts to Understand”, in Totality: The Great American Eclipses of 2017 and 2024‎, Oxford University Press, page 38