cent

See also: Cent, Cent., and cent-

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛnt
• enPR: sĕnt, IPA^(key): /sɛnt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: scent, sent

Noun

cent (plural cents or cent)

1. (money) A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢.
   • 2015 November 22, John Oliver, “Pennies”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 35, HBO:

     It's true. 1.7 cents to make 1 cent. That really makes the phrase “you have to spend money to make money” ring painfully true.

2. (informal) A small sum of money.

   He blew every last cent.

3. (money) A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro.
4. (money) A coin having face value of one cent (in either of the above senses).
5. (music) A hundredth of a half step.
6. Abbreviation of century.
7. (obsolete, except in per cent) Abbreviation of centum. One hundred.
   • c. 1450, Octouian Imperator (Octavian), lines 1463-4:

     And broght with hem many stout cent / Of green lordynges.

   • 1733, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays, Epistle III to Allen, Lord Bathurst, 372:

     The demon makes his full descent / In one abundant shower of cent per cent.

8. Abbreviation of centigrade.
9. Abbreviation of center.

Usage notes

• Due to the differing plural formats used in European languages, it is common to use the word cent as a plural throughout the Eurozone.

Synonyms

• (of a dollar): dollarcent
• (of a euro): eurocent
• (coin (Canada, US)): penny

Related terms

Terms related to cent

• centennial
• centi-

• centipede
• centurion

• century

Descendants

• → Catalan: cent
• → Chinese:
  • Cantonese: 仙 (sin1)
  • Min Nan: 仙 (sian)
• → French: cent
• → Georgian: ცენტი (cenṭi)
• → Hebrew: סנט‎ (sent)
• → Italian: cent
• → Korean: 센트 (senteu)
• → Polish: cent
• → Samoan: sene
  • → English: sene
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic: цент
  • Latin: cent
• → Swahili: senti
• → Swedish: cent

Translations

subunit of currency in US and elsewhere

• Arabic: سِنْت‎‎ m (sint), سَنْت‎‎ m (sant)
• Armenian: ցենտ (hy) (cʿent)
• Belarusian: цэнт m (cent)
• Bulgarian: цент m (cent)
• Catalan: centau m (for American continent coints), cèntim (ca) m (for the rest)
• Central Melanau: sin
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 仙 (sin¹), 分 (fan¹), 厘 (lei⁴)

  Hakka: 分 (fûn)

  Mandarin: 分 (zh) (fēn)

  Min Nan: 分 (zh-min-nan) (hun), 針, 针 (chiam)

• Czech: cent (cs)
• Dutch: cent (nl) m
• Esperanto: cendo (eo)
• Faroese: sent n
• Fijian: sede (fj)
• Finnish: sentti (fi)
• French: cent (fr) m, centime (fr) m
• Georgian: ცენტი (cenṭi)
• German: Cent (de) m
• Greek: σεντ (el) n (sent)
• Hebrew: סֶנְט‎‎ m (sent)
• Hindi: सेंट (hi) (seṇṭ)
• Hungarian: penny (hu)

• Indonesian: sen (id)
• Italian: centesimo (it) m
• Japanese: セント (ja) (sento)
• Korean: 센트 (senteu)
• Lithuanian: centas (lt) m
• Macedonian: цент m (cent)
• Malay: sen
• Navajo: łichííʼí, tsindáo
• Polish: cent (pl) m
• Portuguese: centavo (pt) m
• Russian: цент (ru) m (cent)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: це̏нт m

  Roman: cȅnt (sh) m

• Slovak: cent (sk) m
• Slovene: cent m
• Spanish: centavo (es) m, céntimo (es) m
• Swahili: senti (sw)
• Swedish: cent (sv) c
• Tagalog: pera (tl)
• Ukrainian: цент (uk) m (cent)
• Urdu: سینٹ‎‎ (senṭ)
• Vietnamese: phần trăm (vi)
• West Coast Bajau: sin

one-hundredth of a euro

• Bulgarian: цент m (cent)
• Catalan: cèntim (ca) m
• Central Melanau: sin
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 歐仙, 欧仙 (au¹ sin¹)

  Mandarin: 歐分 (zh), 欧分 (zh) (ōufēn)

• Faroese: sent n
• Finnish: sentti (fi)
• French: centime (fr) m
• German: Cent (de) m
• Greek: λεπτό (el) n (leptó)
• Icelandic: sent (is) n
• Indonesian: sen (id)
• Macedonian: цент m (cent)

• Malay: sen
• Polish: eurocent (pl) m, cent (pl) m
• Portuguese: centavo (pt) m, cêntimo (pt) m
• Russian: цент (ru) m (cent)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: це̏нт m

  Roman: cȅnt (sh) m

• Swahili: senti (sw)
• Swedish: cent (sv) c
• West Coast Bajau: sin

coin

• Finnish: sentti (fi)
• French: (of dollar) (pièce d'un) cent m; (of euro) (pièce d'un) centime m
• German: Cent (de) m
• Greek: ένα λεπτό n (éna leptó)

• Italian: soldino m
• Russian: цент (ru) m (cent)
• Swahili: senti (sw)
• Swedish: cent (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Maori: ^{(please verify)} hēneti

See also

• dollar
• euro
• per cent
• two cents

References

• cent in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• cent at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• tecn-

---

Catalan

Etymology 1

From Latin centum, from Proto-Italic *kentom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

• (standard)

• (before the words "anys", "homes", "hores") IPA^(key): /ˈsent/
• (any other position) IPA^(key): /ˈsen/

• (Valencian) and (Balearic) IPA^(key): /ˈsent/
• Rhymes: -ent

Numeral

Catalan cardinal numbers

<  99	100	101  >
Cardinal : cent     Ordinal : centè
Catalan Wikipedia article on cent

cent m, f

1. (cardinal) hundred

Usage notes

• Catalan cardinal numbers may be used as masculine or feminine adjectives, except un/una (“1”), dos/dues (“2”), cents/centes (“100s”) and its compounds. When used as nouns, Catalan cardinal numbers are treated as masculine singular nouns in most contexts, but in expressions involving time such as la una i trenta (1:30) or les dues (two o'clock), they are feminine because the feminine noun hora has been elided.

Derived terms

• cent per cent
• per cent

Noun

cent m (plural cents)

1. hundred

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English cent. These senses of the word cent in Catalan derive from the inversion of meaning that took place in English where it was used to indicate one hundredth.

Noun

cent m (plural cents)

1. (music) cent (a hundredth of a half step)
2. (money) cent (A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro.)

Related terms

• cèntim (“A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the base unit.”)

---

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cent (“hundred”), from Latin centum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cent

Noun

cent f (plural centen, diminutive centje n)

1. (money) cent, a subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of the Dutch guilder.
2. (money) cent, a subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro.

Derived terms

• centiem
• dollarcent
• eurocent
• rooie cent

---

Esperanto

Esperanto cardinal numbers

<  99	100	101  >
Cardinal : cent     Ordinal : centa     Adverbial : cente     Multiplier : centobla     Fractional : centona

Etymology

From Latin centum.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /t͡sent/

Number

cent

1. (cardinal) hundred
   • 1907, L. L. Zamenhof (tr.), La revizoro, Paris: Esperantista Centra Librejo, translation of Ревизор by Nikolaj Vasiljeviĉ Gogol, Acto kvara:

     Ĉu vi, Pjotr Ivanoviĉ, ne havas cent rublojn?

     Do you, Pjotr Ivanovich, not have one hundred rubles?

Derived terms

Derived terms

• ducent (“two hundred”)
• elcento, pocento, procento (“percent”)
• jarcento (“century”)
• kvarcent (“four hundred”)

• kvincent (“five hundred”)
• naŭcent (“nine hundred”)
• okcent (“eight hundred”)

• sepcent (“seven hundred”)
• sescent (“six hundred”)
• tricent (“three hundred”)

---

French

French cardinal numbers

<  99	100	101  >
Cardinal : cent     Ordinal : centième

Etymology 1

From Middle French cent, from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Proto-Italic *kentom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Pronunciation

Number

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃/, (liaison) /sɑ̃t‿/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: cents, sang, sangs, sans, sens, sent

Numeral

cent

1. (cardinal) hundred

Derived terms

Derived terms

• centaine
• centenaire
• centésimal

• centième
• centigrade

• centime
• pourcent

Descendants

• → Garifuna: san
• Haitian Creole: san

Related terms

• centi-

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English cent, itself from Old French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛnt, sɛn/
• Homophone: cents

Noun

cent m (plural cents)

1. (money) cent (one-hundredth of a dollar or of a euro)

Synonyms

• (euro): centime
• (dollar): cenne (colloquial, Canada), sou (slang, North America)

See also

• franc
• dollar

Further reading

• “cent” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin centum, from Proto-Italic *kentom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Numeral

cent

1. (cardinal) hundred

---

Ido

Etymology 1

Back-formation from cento.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡sɛnt/

Numeral

cent

1. hundred (100)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English cent, French cent, German Cent, Italian cent, Russian цент (cent), Spanish centavo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sent/, /t͡sent/

Noun

cent (plural cents or cent-i)

1. (numismatics) cent

---

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English cent.

Noun

cent m (invariable)

1. cent (US coin)
2. euro cent (European coin)

---

Old French

Alternative forms

• çant
• ceint
• chent

Etymology

From Latin centum.

Noun

cent m (oblique plural cenz or centz, nominative singular cenz or centz, nominative plural cent)

1. one hundred

Descendants

• → Dutch: cent
• → English: cent (see there for further descendants)
• Middle French: cent
  • French: cent
    • → Garifuna: san
    • Haitian Creole: san
• Walloon: cint

---

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin centum or English cent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡sɛnt/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

cent m anim

1. cent

Declension

declension of cent

	singular	plural
nominative	cent	centy
genitive	centa	centów
dative	centowi	centom
accusative	centa	centy
instrumental	centem	centami
locative	cencie	centach
vocative	cencie	centy

---

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from English cent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsênt/

Noun

cȅnt m (Cyrillic spelling це̏нт)

1. cent (hundredth of a dollar, euro, etc.)
2. (music) cent (hundredth of a semitone)

Declension

Declension of cent

	singular	plural
nominative	cȅnt	cȅnti
genitive	centa	cȇntā
dative	centu	centima
accusative	cȅnt	cente
vocative	centu / cente	centi
locative	centu	centima
instrumental	centom	centima

---

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cent.

Noun

cent c

1. cent; a subunit of currency

Declension

Declension of cent
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	cent	centen	cent	centen
Genitive	cents	centens	cents	centens

References

• Hur ska vi hantera euro?, Forskningscentralen för de inhemska språken, February 8, 2007
• Euro, Språkrådet, Veckans språkråd 2002