century
Pluralcenturies
- 1A period of one hundred consecutive years, often a numbered span such as the twentieth century, running roughly from 1900 to 1999.
The factory kept operating for well over a century before it finally closed.
Historians often group events into centuries to make long stretches of time easier to study.
UsageUse in the and an ordinal: in the 19th century, which means the 1800s, not the 1900s.
Note
The time sense is a shortening of "century of years." Middle English centurie, from Latin centuria (built on centum "one hundred"), could mean a count of a hundred of anything. The numbering is easy to get wrong. Strictly, the twentieth century runs from 1901 through 2000, because the first century AD began with year 1, not year 0. In everyday use people count from 1900 through 1999.
- 2A score of 100 or more in a game: in cricket, runs made by one batter or a partnership in an innings; in snooker, points made in a single break.
The batsman brought up his century with a sharp single down the ground.
Their opening partnership reached a century before the first wicket fell.
UsageA batter scores or brings up a century. Before a noun: a century stand, a century partnership.
Note
Cricket takes the word back to its root, Latin centum, a plain "one hundred" with no years attached. Batters' careers are tallied in centuries, as in 44 limited-overs centuries.
- 3A banknote worth one hundred dollars.
UsageMostly in speech. In writing for a general audience, hundred-dollar bill is the clearer choice.
Less common meanings
- 4A set or group of one hundred items of the same kind.
The striker marked his century of goals for the club with a late header.
With that win the veteran driver reached a century of podium finishes.
UsageUsually a century of + plural noun, as in a century of wins.
Similarhundred
Note
The time sense was later shortened from this one, through the phrase century of years. Robert Burton could "cite a century of authors" in The Anatomy of Melancholy. Sports writing still reaches for it: in 2021 Hamilton celebrated a century of pole positions in Formula One.
- 5A race or ride of one hundred units of distance, such as a 100-meter sprint or a 100-mile bicycle ride.
The cyclist finished the century in just under five hours.
The charity century starts at dawn, and most riders need seven or eight hours to cover the distance.
UsageCyclists ride a century. A metric century is 100 kilometers, so name the distance when it could be unclear.
Note
The unit often goes unstated, and the setting supplies it. A sprinter's century is one hundred meters. For a road cyclist it is one hundred miles in the United States and Britain but often one hundred kilometers in metric countries, so riders say metric century or imperial century when it matters.
- 6A unit of the ancient Roman army, originally consisting of one hundred soldiers and later of varying size, commanded by a centurion.
The centurion drilled his century until their formations were flawless.
Several centuries combined to form a single cohort.
Note
Here the hundred is a name more than a headcount. The unit began as one hundred soldiers, but it later typically held sixty to eighty men. The word also stretched to cover bodies of guards, police and firemen. It sits in a ladder of Roman formations: century, maniple, cohort, legion. Writers who want the Roman term use the Latin centuria.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- The name did not consistently represent an actual headcount of 100. en.wikipedia.org
- The century originally consisted of 100 soldiers. en.wikipedia.org
- The century predates the later legionary cohort organization; its original hundred-man composition should not be described as originating within a cohort. en.wikipedia.org
- Later centuries typically contained 60 to 80 men. en.wiktionary.org
- Centuries also comprised guards, police and firemen. en.wiktionary.org
- Century, maniple, cohort and legion form an ascending hierarchy of Roman formations. en.wiktionary.org
- Centuria is the Latin term. en.wikipedia.org
- 7A voting and political division of ancient Rome, whose members met and cast their votes as part of the Centuriate Assembly.
Practice
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Origin
This comes from Middle English centurie, borrowed via Old French centurie from Latin centuria, itself from centum ('one hundred'). Its most common modern meaning is a shortening of 'century of years'.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Century comes from Middle English centurie. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English word was borrowed through Old French centurie from Latin centuria. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin centuria derives from centum, meaning one hundred. en.wiktionary.org
- The hundred-year meaning developed through shortening century of years. en.wiktionary.org