cent

English Online Dictionary. What means cent‎? What does cent mean?

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviations): cent.

Etymology

From Middle English cent, from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛnt
• enPR: sĕnt, IPA^(key): /sɛnt/
• Homophones: scent, sent

Noun

cent (plural cents or cent)

2. (money) A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢.
3. (informal) A small sum of money.

4. (money) A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro.
5. (money) A coin having face value of one cent (in either of the above senses).
7. (music) A hundredth of a semitone or half step.
8. (nuclear physics) A unit of reactivity equal to one hundredth of a dollar.
9. Abbreviation of century.
10. (obsolete, except in per cent and cent percent) Abbreviation of centum. One hundred.
    • c. 1450, Octouian Imperator (Octavian), lines 1463-4:

      And broght with hem many stout cent / Of green lordynges.

    • 1733, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays, Epistle III to Allen, Lord Bathurst, 372:

      The demon makes his full descent / In one abundant shower of cent per cent.

11. Abbreviation of centigrade.
12. Abbreviation of center.

Usage notes

• Due to the differing plural formats used in European languages, it is common to use the word cent as a plural throughout the Eurozone.

Synonyms

• (of a dollar): dollarcent
• (of a euro): Eurocent
• (coin (Canada, US)): penny

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “cent”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “cent”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• NCTE, tecn-

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin centum, from Proto-Italic *kentom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

• (Standard)
  • (before the words "anys", "homes", "hores") IPA^(key): /ˈsent/
  • (any other position) IPA^(key): /ˈsen/
• (Valencia) and (Balearic) IPA^(key): /ˈsent/
• Homophone: sent
• Rhymes: -ent

Numeral

cent m or f

1. (cardinal number) hundred

Usage notes

• Catalan cardinal numbers may be used as masculine or feminine adjectives, except un/una (“1”), dos/dues (“2”), cents/centes (“100s”) and its compounds. When used as nouns, Catalan cardinal numbers are treated as masculine singular nouns in most contexts, but in expressions involving time such as la una i trenta (1:30) or les dues (two o'clock), they are feminine because the feminine noun hora has been elided.

Derived terms

• cent per cent
• per cent

Noun

cent m (plural cents)

1. hundred

See also

• dos-cents m (“two hundred”), dues-centes f (“two hundred”)
  • Old Catalan: doents (“two hundred”)
• tres-cents (“three hundred”)
• quatre-cents (“four hundred”)
• cinc-cents (“five hundred”)
• sis-cents (“six hundred”)
• set-cents (“seven hundred”)
• vuit-cents (“eight hundred”)
• nou-cents (“nine hundred”)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English cent. These senses of the word cent in Catalan derive from the inversion of meaning that took place in English where it was used to indicate one hundredth.

Noun

cent m (plural cents)

1. (music) cent (a hundredth of a half step)
2. (money) cent (a subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro)

Related terms

• cèntim (“a subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the base unit”)

Further reading

• “cent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “cent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “cent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Either a borrowing from English cent or a shortened borrowed from French centime.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛnt/
• Hyphenation: cent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

cent f (plural centen, diminutive centje n)

1. (money) cent, a subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of the Dutch guilder
2. (money) cent, a subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: sent
• Berbice Creole Dutch: sent
• → Caribbean Javanese: sèn
• → Indonesian: sen
• → Papiamentu: sèn, cens
• → Sranan Tongo: sensi
  • → Caribbean Hindustani: señs
  • → Saramaccan: seén

References

Esperanto

Etymology

From Latin centum. Doublet of cendo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t͡sent]
• Hyphenation: cent

Number

cent

1. hundred

Derived terms

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

Inherited from Latin centum.

Numeral

cent (ORB, broad)

1. hundred

References

• cent in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• cent in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French cent, from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Proto-Italic *kentom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃/, (liaison) /sɑ̃t‿/
• Homophones: sang, sangs, sans, sens, sent
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃

Numeral

cent m (plural cents or (obsolete) cens)

1. hundred

Derived terms

Related terms

• centi-

Descendants

• → Garifuna: san
• Haitian Creole: san
• Louisiana Creole: sen

See also

• deux cents (“two hundred”)
• trois cents (“three hundred”)
• quatre cents (“four hundred”)
• cinq cents (“five hundred”)
• six cents (“six hundred”)
• sept cents (“seven hundred”)
• huit cents (“eight hundred”)
• neuf cents (“nine hundred”)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English cent, itself from Old French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛnt/, /sɛn/
• Homophone: cents

Noun

cent m (plural cents)

1. (money) cent (one-hundredth of a dollar or of a euro)

   Synonym: centime

Synonyms

• (dollar): cenne (colloquial, Canada), sou (slang, North America)

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: san
• → Arabic: سنت (sant)
• → Garifuna: san

See also

• franc
• dollar

Further reading

• “cent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin centum, from Proto-Italic *kentom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃɛnt/, /sɛnt/

Numeral

cent

1. hundred

Hungarian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sɛnt]
• Hyphenation: cent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

cent (plural centek)

1. (money) cent (a subunit of currency)
2. (informal) centilitre

   Synonym: centiliter

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• cent in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Ido

Etymology 1

Back-formation of cento.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡sɛnt/

Numeral

cent

1. hundred (100)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English cent, French cent, German Cent, Italian cent, Russian цент (cent), Spanish centavo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sent/, /t͡sent/

Noun

cent (plural cents or cent-i)

1. (numismatics) cent

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English cent.

Noun

cent m (invariable)

1. cent (US coin)
2. euro cent (European coin)

Lombard

Etymology

From centum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃẽnt/ (Milan)
• IPA^(key): /ʃent/ (Ticino)
• IPA^(key): /hɛnt/, /sɛnt/ (Eastern)

Numeral

cent

1. hundred

References

• https://navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it/

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin centum, from Proto-Italic *kentom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

Numeral

cent

1. hundred

Derived terms

• centen

Further reading

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎^[1], 2 edition, →ISBN, page 242.

Old French

Alternative forms

• çant, ceint, chent

Etymology

From Latin centum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsent/, (late) /sãnt/

Numeral

cent oblique singular, m (oblique plural cenz or centz, nominative singular cenz or centz, nominative plural cent)

1. one hundred

Descendants

• Middle French: cent
  • French: cent (see there for further descendants)
• Walloon: cint
• → Dutch: cent (see there for further descendants)
• → English: cent (see there for further descendants)

Polish

Etymology

Internationalism; compare English cent, French cent, German Cent, ultimately from Latin centum. Doublet of sto.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛnt
• Syllabification: cent

Noun

cent m animal (diminutive cencik, related adjective centowy)

1. cent (subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries; symbol: ¢)
2. (Żywiec) Synonym of cetnar

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• cent in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• cent in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• cent in PWN's encyclopedia
• Leon Rzeszowski (1891) “cent”, in “Spis wyrazów ludowych z okolic Żywca”, in Sprawozdania Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności, volume 4, Krakow: Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, page 354

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from English cent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡sênt/

Noun

cȅnt m (Cyrillic spelling це̏нт)

1. cent (hundredth of a dollar, euro, etc.)
2. (music) cent (hundredth of a semitone)

Declension

Spanish

Noun

cent m (plural cents)

1. cent (subunit of euro)

   Synonym: céntimo

Further reading

• “cent”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cent.

Noun

cent c

1. cent; a subunit of currency

Declension

References

• Hur ska vi hantera euro?, Forskningscentralen för de inhemska språken, February 8, 2007
• Euro, Språkrådet, Veckans språkråd 2002