matplotlibrc configuration files are used to customize all kinds of properties in matplotlib. One can change the rc settings to customize the default parameters e.g:
matplotlib.rcParams['font.family'] = 'times new roman'
... but what does "rc" stand for?
I can't find any explanation in the docs
It's common to end configuration files in 'rc' - e.g. '.xinitrc', '.vimrc' and '.bashrc'.
It stems from practice of having your configs executable - they are automatically Run at startup and they Configure your stuff.
This started long ago, even before Unix:
[Unix: from runcom files on the CTSS system 1962-63, via the startup script /etc/rc] Script file containing startup instructions for an application program (or an entire operating system), usually a text file containing commands of the sort that might have been invoked manually once the system was running but are to be executed automatically each time the system starts up.