A dielectric ceramic formed by firing in a reducing atmosphere is provided. A
multilayer
ceramic capacitor formed by using the aforementioned dielectric ceramic has superior
reliability even when the thicknesses of dielectric ceramic layers formed therefrom
are reduced. The dielectric ceramic has crystal grains; and crystal boundaries
and triple points, which are located between the crystal grains. The crystal grains
contain perovskite compound grains composed of a perovskite compound represented
by ABO3 (where A is Ba and Ca, or Ba, Ca and Sr; B is Ti, or Ti and
a part thereof which is replaced with at least one of Zr and Hf) and crystal oxide
grains composed of a crystal oxide containing at least Ba, Ti and Si, and about
80% or more of the number of the triple points each have a cross-sectional area
of about 8 nm2 or less.
