cent

¹ American  

[sent] / sɛnt /

noun

1. one 100th of the dollar, or other basic monetary unit, of various nations, including the United States. ¢, c

2. penny.

   Sorry, I’ve only got two dimes, a nickel, and four cents.

3. a monetary unit of certain European Union countries, one 100th of a euro.

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cent- ² American  

1. variant of centi- before a vowel.

   centare.

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cent. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. centigrade.

2. central.

3. centum.

4. century.

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cent British  

/ sɛnt /

noun

1. a monetary unit of American Samoa, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Brunei, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guyana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia, Monaco, Montenegro, Namibia, Nauru, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Surinam, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, the United States, the Vatican City, the Virgin Islands, and Zimbabwe. It is worth one hundredth of their respective standard units

2. an interval of pitch between two frequencies f 2 and f 1 equal to 3986.31 log ( f 2 / f 1 ); one twelve-hundredth of the interval between two frequencies having the ratio 1:2 (an octave)

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cent Idioms  

1. see for two cents; not worth a dime (red cent); put in one's two cents.

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Usage

What does cent- mean? Cent- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “hundredth” or "hundred."Cent- comes from the Latin centum, meaning “hundred.” The word cent, as in a hundredth of a dollar and also known as a penny, ultimately comes from this same Latin root, as does percent. The Greek word for “hundred” is hekatón, source of the combining forms hecto-, hect-, hekto-, and hekt-, which you can learn more about in our Words That Use articles for the forms.Cent- is a variant of centi-, which loses its -i- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels.Want to know more? Read our Words That Use centi- article.

Etymology

Origin of cent

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Latin centēsimus “hundredth” (by shortening), equivalent to cent(um) “100” ( hundred ) + -ēsimus ordinal suffix

Example Sentences

After four hours in simulated zero gravity, the number of successfully fertilized mouse eggs dropped by 30 per cent compared to normal Earth conditions.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

And Clarke admits he's shifted slightly in his own mind, having previously said his chances of staying were only 25 per cent.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

The cybersecurity company said it expects a first-quarter adjusted loss of 6 cents to 7 cents a share versus analysts’ estimates calling for a loss of 6 cent.

From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026

In the fourth quarter, Petco narrowed its loss to $2.6 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a loss of $13.8 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

“There’s not a cent of your money on me. I’d starve first.”

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner