centum1
[sen-tuh m]
- one hundred.
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Origin of centum1
From Latin; see origin at hundred
centum2
[ken-tuh m, -too m]
- belonging to or consisting of those branches of the Indo-European family of languages that show distinctive preservation of the Proto-Indo-European labiovelars and that show a historical development of velar articulations, as the sounds (k) or [kh] /x/, from Proto-Indo-European palatal phonemes. The centum branches are Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Hellenic, Anatolian, and Tocharian.
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Compare satem.
Origin of centum2
1900–05; < Latin, exemplifying in c- the outcome of IE palato-velar stops characteristic of the group
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for centum
Historical Examples
Centum deinde ex senioribus elegit, quorum consilio omnia ageret, quos senatores nominavit propter senectutem.
Selections from Viri RomaeCharles Franois L'Homond
Corium beluae, centum et viginti pedes longum, Romam misit Regulus.
Selections from Viri RomaeCharles Franois L'Homond
Such migration may possibly account for the appearance of a people using a centum language so far east as Turkestan.
Hujus Libri centum & viginti tantum Exemplaria impressa sunt impensis infrascriptorum.
I have learnt 'centum plagas Spartana nobilitate concoquere.'
The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 6Samuel Johnson
centum
- denoting or belonging to the Indo-European languages in which original velar stops (k) were not palatalized, namely languages of the Hellenic, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Anatolian, and Tocharian branchesCompare satem
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Word Origin
Latin: hundred, chosen because the c represents the Indo-European k
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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