The Full form of TCP is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. TCP is a set of rules or protocols and procedures that governs communication among computers over the internet. Although the entire internet protocol suite is commonly known as TCP/IP, it is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It was driven by Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf, and developed in 1978. TCP/IP is a standard that is commonly used for transferring data over networks.
In simple words, it is the suite of communication protocols which is used to interconnect network devices on the internet. It decides how the information or data will be exchanged through end-to-end communications over the internet that include how the data should be arranged in bundles of information (into packets), addressed, sent, and received at the destination. This communication protocol can also be used in a private network to interconnect network devices such as an extranet or an intranet.
TCP/IP is a standard layered protocol suite comprises a set of protocols which, on the basis of their functionality is divided into 4 layers. Each layer consists of a specific protocol. These four layers are: the application layer, the transport layer, the network access layer, and the internet layer.