In BRICS, B stands for Brazil, R for Russia, and I for India. What do C and S…

Concept: BRICS is an acronym for a bloc of major emerging economies. It began as BRIC — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — a term coined by economist Jim O'Neill in 2001, and became BRICS when South Africa joined the original four-nation grouping in 2010, forming the five countries the acronym now represents. The grouping has since added further full members and partner countries, but the acronym itself still encodes only these five.

Application: The stem fixes B = Brazil, R = Russia, and I = India. Following the same five-nation acronym, C = China and S = South Africa — so C and S stand for China and South Africa respectively.

The other pairings do not fit the grouping:

• South Korea is a separate East Asian economy that has never been part of this five-nation bloc, so "China and South Korea" does not match.

• Cuba is a BRICS partner country, not one of the five nations whose initials form the acronym, so "Cuba and South Africa" does not match — only the South Africa half fits.

• Sri Lanka is a South Asian island nation not part of this bloc, so "China and Sri Lanka" does not match — only the China half fits.