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:
“This is my 33rd year and I haven’t been paid a cent and I’m not looking for a cent,” said the 76-year-old, who is a former Servite parent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The 28-year-old is set to become Atletico's fourth signing of the summer, while Spurs will also retain a 15 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal.
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
“I sent the money back with ten per cent interest,” Adam said.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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
Mr Qassim said: "No. One hundred per cent. I didn't see a watch. At this point he's just firing off messages."
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 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
“A thousand dollars? He will not get a cent. We shall have him prosecuted immediately. Contact our attorneys, Mother.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Digoxin has been used in medicine for centuries and costs less than ten cents per day.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
"I want everyone to be able to use the bathroom on an equal footing. Either we all pay 50 cents or no one pays 50 cents," she said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 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
GE HealthCare Technologies said tariff refunds had contributed 18 cents of the $1.24-a-share it reported in earnings for the quarter ended June 30.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Roberto and I received eighty-five cents per hour, just like the braceros.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
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.
