centavo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese and Spanish centavo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛnˈtɑːvoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cen‧ta‧vo

Noun

centavo (plural centavos)

1. Currency unit (hundredth of a peso) in Mexico.
2. A similar subdenomination of various other currencies (in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and the Philippines).
3. (historical) The former subdenomination of some other currencies (in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Puerto Rico, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Venezuela).

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sen.ta.vo/ ~ /sɛn.ta.vo/
• Hyphenation: cen‧ta‧vo

Noun

centavo m (plural centavos)

1. centavo

Italian

Etymology

From cento (“hundred”) +‎ -avo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃenˈta.vo/
• Rhymes: -avo
• Hyphenation: cen‧tà‧vo

Noun

centavo m (plural centavi)

1. centavo

Anagrams

• covante, vocante

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

centavo m (definite singular centavoen, indefinite plural centavos or centavo, definite plural centavoene)

1. a centavo

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

centavo m (plural centavoen)

1. a centavo

Portuguese

Etymology

From cento (“hundred”) + -avo.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sẽˈta.vu/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sẽˈta.vu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sẽˈta.vu/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /sẽˈta.bu/ [sẽˈta.βu]

• Rhymes: -avu, (Northern Portugal) -abu
• Hyphenation: cen‧ta‧vo

Noun

centavo m (plural centavos)

1. cent (a hundredth of several monetary units, including the Brazilian real, the Portuguese escudo, and the Mozambican metical)

Related terms

• cêntimo

Further reading

• “centavo”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “centavo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Spanish numbers ^(edit)

		1,000
[a], [b] ←  90	←  99	100	200  →	1,000  →
		10
Cardinal: cien, (before lower numerals) ciento     Ordinal: centésimo     Ordinal abbreviation: 100.º     Multiplier: céntuplo     Fractional: centésimo, centavo, céntimo
Spanish Wikipedia article on 100

Alternative forms

• ctvo.

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥

Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm

Proto-Italic *kəntom

Latin centum

Old Spanish

Spanish ciento

Spanish -avo

Spanish centavo

From ciento (“hundred”) + -avo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θenˈtabo/ [θẽn̪ˈt̪a.β̞o] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /senˈtabo/ [sẽn̪ˈt̪a.β̞o] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -abo
• Syllabification: cen‧ta‧vo

Adjective

centavo (feminine centava, masculine plural centavos, feminine plural centavas)

1. (fractional number) hundredth

   Synonyms: centésimo, céntimo

   una centava parte ― a hundredth part

Noun

centavo m (plural centavos)

1. (fractional number) hundredth

   Synonyms: centésimo, céntimo

   siete centavos ― seven hundredths (⁷⁄₁₀₀)

2. cent (subunit of currency in US and other countries)

   Synonym: céntimo

Descendants

• → Catalan: centau
• → Catalan: centavo

Further reading

• “centavo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025