There are four license elements that you can combine in different ways. The four elements can be combined into six Creative commons licenses.

Attribution (BY)

CC license object attribution/BY
The first symbol, a person in a circle, stands for Attribution or “BY”. This symbol means that you always need to give credit to the creator of a work.

BY is included in all CC licenses conditions.

NonCommercial (NC)

CC license element NonCommercial (NC)

Second element, a crossed over dollar sign* in a circle, stands for NonCommercial or “NC”. This symbol means that you cannot use the creative work to earn money.

Three CC licenses include this restriction.

*N.B.! It can also resemble other monetary symbols, like Euro or Yen.

ShareAlike (SA)

CC license element ShareAlike or “SA”.

Third element, an arrow forms a circle rotating counter clockwise within a circle.

This symbolises ShareAlike or “SA”. If you adapt any creative work using this element you will need to share your adaptations based on this work under the same license.

Two CC licenses include this condition.

NoDerivatives (ND)

CC license element NoDerivatives

Fourth element, a circle with the “=“ sign.

This symbol stands for NoDerivatives or “ND,” which means that if you want to use it you cannot make any changes (adaptations) to the work.
Two CC licenses includes this restriction.

Information about the four licenses by Creative Commons is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license