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.

---

cent- ² American  

1. variant of centi- before a vowel.

   centare.

---

cent. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. centigrade.

2. central.

3. centum.

4. century.

---

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)

---

cent Idioms  

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

---

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

However, when the researchers interfered with actin -- a protein that allows cells to contract and move -- hair growth slowed dramatically, dropping by more than 80 per cent.

From Science Daily

Gasoline prices average $3.61 a gallon, up nearly 70 cents from last month; travelers are advised to plan ahead and use apps for savings.

From Barron's

Drivers were paying an average of $3.65 for a gallon of gas on Friday — up more than 23 cents from the previous week, and up nearly 73 cents from the previous month, according to GasBuddy.

From MarketWatch

That is fine if the loan is still valued at par, or 100 cents on the dollar.

From MarketWatch

Paramount has agreed to pay $31 a share in cash for Warner Bros., with a “ticking fee” of 25 cents a quarter if the deal closing is delayed past Sept. 30.

From Barron's