cent
noun
one 100th of the dollar, or other basic monetary unit, of various nations, including the United States. ¢, c
cent
1 American
[sent]
/ sɛnt /
cent-
2
American
cent.
3
American
abbreviation
-
centigrade.
-
central.
-
centum.
-
century.
cent
British
/ sɛnt /
noun
-
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
-
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)
cent
Idioms
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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cent
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Latin centēsimus “hundredth” (by shortening), equivalent to cent(um) “100” ( see hundred) + -ēsimus ordinal suffix
Explanation
A cent is a very small unit of money. In the US, one cent is the same thing as one penny. A cent is 1/100 of a dollar — in other words, there are 100 cents in a dollar. Many other currencies have a cent as well, including the European Union, Estonia, and Hong Kong, representing 1/100 of the basic unit of money. The word cent comes from the Latin centum, "hundred." In Middle English, cent meant "one hundred," but by the 1600s it came to mean "one hundredth."
Vocabulary lists containing cent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Even if they took the $1,000 and never added another cent to the account, the money could grow to approximately $5,000 in 18 years, according to one McKinsey & Co. estimate.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Official data shows 23 per cent of investigations across England and Wales led to a charge or summons in the 12 months up to April this year.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
"Our national survey of more than 2,600 teachers found that... 70 per cent had frequently or occasionally seen the impact of manosphere social media influencers present on student attitudes and behaviour."
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
HP lifted its outlook for the full year, projecting adjusted earnings between $3.19 and $3.29 a share, including a 19 cent favorable impact from expected tariff refunds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
This unexpected news from Beyond the Veil had been worth every penny, but now Penelope had not a cent to her name with which to buy tickets to Heathcote.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
It was followed by several shells which dropped into the dunes, not far from the French battery of cent- vingt.
From The Soul of the War by Philip Gibbs
Asked if he understood the supporters' reaction at the result, Frank said: "Yes, 100 per cent. We all sense the frustration and the emotions. That is part of football."
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025
“After 30 years now, my likeness is still being used. I don’t see a cent. They’re still exploiting my image,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2023
"They would rather risk your health than sacrifice a single cent. Disgusting."
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2023
"One hundred per cent. Not only is it just wasting so much time, but it feels like there's just less and less privacy in the world. Everything you do is constantly out there."
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2022
“I’ve got the only one I ever met whom I would trust seventy-five per cent. I’ve told her that,” he said.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of 59 cents a share.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
But given all the information, what are your two cents on this situation?
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Mynt, which operates mobile financial-services platform GCash, set its final offer price at 6.60 pesos a share, equivalent to about 10 U.S. cents, Globe Telecom said Friday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The forecast excluded around 15 cents of restructuring costs related to the savings program, called Pace.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Thirty-eight dollars and fourteen cents is nice, but it’s not enough.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
