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:
Taking place on Wednesday 12 August, it will be the biggest coverage since the total eclipse in 1999, with the moon expected to cover 90 to 96 per cent of the sun.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
M wants his daughter to go to university, and saved every cent so they could move to Iran so she could study there.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
The Moon will cover 90 to 96 per cent of the Sun on 12 August - the biggest coverage since the total eclipse in 1999.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Etsy swung to a second-quarter loss of $46.7 million, or 36 cent a share, from a profit of $28.8 million, or 25 cents a share, in the prior-year period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Among modern foragers, forty-five-year-old women can expect to live another twenty years, and about 5–8 per cent of the population is over sixty.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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
"It's not about me, it's about what's right for the club. We have 30,000 shareholders who own approximately 13.5 per cent. We run this club as if it is a public company."
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2023
"They would rather risk your health than sacrifice a single cent. Disgusting."
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2023
“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 had projected a profit of 11 cents a share.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The men paid him about 60 cents each.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Apple said its tariff refunds contributed 11 cents to per-share earnings in the most recent quarter—about 5% of the quarter’s total.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Super Micro reported adjusted earnings of $1.70 per share, compared with the 92 cents per share analysts were expecting.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
“A quarter would more than do it, and leave a few cents over for a treat for you. Don’t you like limes?”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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.
