cent

A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢.

Noun

  1. A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢.
    • It's true. 1.7 cents to make 1 cent. That really makes the phrase “you have to spend money to make money” ring painfully true. - 2015 November 22, “Pennies”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 35,...
  2. A small sum of money.
    • He blew every last cent.
    • Every cent aside from his own expenses for the barest kind of living went to his down-and-out buddies. - 1990, Lou Sullivan, From Female to Male: The Life of Jack Bee Garland, →ISBN, page 10:
  3. A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro.
  4. A coin having face value of one cent (in either of the above senses).
  5. A hundredth of a semitone or half step.
  6. A unit of reactivity equal to one hundredth of a dollar.
  7. Abbreviation of century.
  8. Abbreviation of Latincentum (“one hundred”).
    • And broght with hem many stout cent / Of green lordynges. - c. 1450, Octouian Imperator (Octavian), lines 1463-4
    • The demon makes his full descent / In one abundant shower of cent per cent. - 1733, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays, Epistle III to Allen, Lord Bathurst, 372
  9. Abbreviation of centigrade.
  10. Abbreviation of center.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥t Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm Proto-Italic *kəntom Latin centum Old French centbor. Middle English cent English cent From Middle English cent, from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Forms

cents cent cent.

Synonyms

dollarcent Eurocent penny

Related

centennial centi- centipede centurion century dollar euro per cent two cents

Derived

bitcent centage cent percent dollar-and-cent Fugio cent half cent red cent ten-cent ten-cent store ten-cent tour ten-cent word twenty-five cent word