# cent

Pronunciation: say "SENT" /sɛnt/

## Noun

1. A unit of money equal to one hundredth of the main currency unit in many countries, including the euro; in dollars, symbol ¢.
   - Simple: A unit of money worth one hundredth of a dollar, euro, or certain other currencies.
   - _Gas prices rose by a cent per gallon last week._
   - _The company's shares fell six cents in afternoon trading._
3. A coin with a face value of one cent, in any of the currencies that use cents.
   - Simple: A small coin that is worth one cent.
   - _She sorted the jar of loose change, setting every cent aside to roll up later._
   - _Collectors will pay hundreds of dollars for a cent from a rare year in good condition._
4. A small sum of money. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A very small amount of money, often used to mean no money at all.
   - _The repairs didn't cost us a cent thanks to the warranty._
   - _He vowed never to give that company another cent of his money._
5. A unit for measuring musical pitch, equal to one hundredth of a semitone or half step.
   - Simple: A very small unit used to measure musical pitch. One hundred cents make one half step.
   - _The tuner app showed the note was twelve cents sharp._
   - _A difference of a single cent is far too small for most listeners to hear._
6. Short for century: a period of one hundred years, written after a number in dates such as "15th cent." — Abbreviation of century.
   - Simple: Short for century: a hundred years, written after a number in dates, as in "12th cent."
   - _The catalog dates the manuscript to the late 15th cent. based on its handwriting._
   - _The exhibit included a bronze mirror from the 3rd cent. BCE._
7. Short for centigrade: on the Celsius temperature scale, written after a temperature, mostly in older texts. — Abbreviation of centigrade.
   - Simple: Short for centigrade: Celsius, written after a temperature, mostly in older writing.
   - _A 1950s weather log records a high of 35° cent. for the city that July._
   - _In the old lab notebook, the bath temperature is written as 37° cent. on every page._

## Noun

2. Short for centum: one hundred, surviving mainly in the phrase per cent. *(obsolete)* — Abbreviation of centum (“one hundred”).
   - Simple: Short for centum: one hundred, now found mainly in "per cent."

## Other meanings

- (noun) Abbreviation of center: used in addresses, signs, and place names where space is short.
- (noun) A unit of nuclear reactor reactivity equal to one hundredth of a dollar, the dollar here being a reactivity unit rather than money.

## Origin

Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm lies behind Latin centum ("hundred"), which passed into Old French as cent and then into Middle English as cent.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).