At the heart of all the spreads and strategies discussed about options is the call and put. A call gives its owner the option to buy a stock at a specific price, known as the strike price, over a given period of time. A put provides the owner the option to sell a stock at a specific price (also called the strike price), over a given period of time. Let's look at how options are typically represented for a particular stock:

JUN15 50c
This refers to a call option with a strike price of $50 that expires in June 2015. The owner of this call would have the option to purchase the stock for $50 anytime before the option expires in June 2015.

AUG14 75p
This refers to a put option with a strike price of $75 that expires in August 2014. The owner of this put would have the option to sell the stock for $75 anytime before the option expires in August 2014.

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