centavo

[ sen-tah-voh; Spanish sen-tah-vaw ]

noun,plural cen·ta·vos

[sen-tah-vohz; Spanish sen-tah-vaws]. /sɛnˈtɑ voʊz; Spanish sɛnˈtɑ vɔs/.

one 100th of the monetary units of various nations, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Peru, and the Philippines.

Origin of centavo

First recorded in 1880–85; from Spanish: “one 100th part,” equivalent to cent- “100” (see cent) + -avo, from Latin -āvum as in octāvum “eighth”; see octavo

Words Nearby centavo

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use centavo in a sentence

He reveals that his monthly hazard pay amounts to just 300 Philippine pesos—a little over $6—and even then he has yet to receive a single centavo of it.
'Medical Populism' Has Defined the Philippines' Response to COVID-19. That's Why the Country Is Still Suffering | Aie Balagtas See / Manila | June 28, 2021 | Time
Nation has interesting monetary system based on peso with peso being worth 100 centavos and centavo being worth nothing.
Up to a Point: PJ O’Rourke on Sochi and Senate Slackers | P. J. O’Rourke | February 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
At the bar, a laughing longshoreman pushed a five-centavo coin into the nickeled red juke box, pressed the "Bsame" button.
The Five Arrows | Allan Chase
Out of pity he gave her a centavo, and in return she gave him an empty purse from which he could ask any sum of money he wanted.
Filipino Popular Tales | Dean S. Fansler
The humbler children would gather about us, pleading, "Americano, gimme a centavo!"
Pioneering in Cuba | James Meade Adams

I show them peons—ten-centavo men when we took them, and five-peso men when I showed them.
The Little Lady of the Big House | Jack London
Buyo and cigars.The luxuries of the Filipinos are buyo8 and cigars—a cigar costing half a centavo, and a buyo much less.
The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes | Toms de Comyn

British Dictionary definitions for centavo

centavo

/ (sɛnˈtɑːvəʊ) /

nounplural -vos

a monetary unit of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and the Philippines. It is worth one hundredth of their respective standard units
a former monetary unit of Ecuador, El Salvador, and Portugal, worth one hundredth of their former standard units

Origin of centavo

Spanish: one hundredth part

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Browse