Cents


a bronze coin of the U.S., the 100th part of a U.S. dollar: made of steel during part of 1943. Symbol: ¢.
the 100th part of the monetary units of various other nations, including Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei, Canada, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guyana, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritius, New Zealand, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda.
a monetary unit of certain European Union countries, the 100th part of a euro.
sen3 .
Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

noun
a monetary unit of American Samoa, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Brunei, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guyana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia, Monaco, Montenegro, Namibia, Nauru, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Surinam, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, the United States, the Vatican City, the Virgin Islands, and Zimbabwe. It is worth one hundredth of their respective standard units
an interval of pitch between two frequencies f2 and f1 equal to 3986.31 log (f2/f1); one twelve-hundredth of the interval between two frequencies having the ratio 1:2 (an octave)
n.

late 14c., from Latin centum “hundred” (see hundred). Middle English meaning was “one hundred,” but it shifted 17c. to “hundredth part” under influence of percent. Chosen in this sense in 1786 as a name for a U.S. currency unit by Continental Congress. The word first was suggested by Robert Morris in 1782 under a different currency plan. Before the cent, Revolutionary and colonial dollars were reckoned in ninetieths, based on the exchange rate of Pennsylvania money and Spanish coin.

Related Terms

put one’s two cents in, ten cents

Related Terms

a red cent
see:

for two cents
not worth a dime (red cent)
put in one’s two cents

Read Also:

  • Centas

    a former bronze coin of Lithuania, the 100th part of a litas. Historical Examples noun (pl) centai (ˈtsæntaɪ) a monetary unit of Lithuania, worth one hundredth of a litas

  • Cental

    hundredweight (def 1). Chiefly British. a hundredweight of 112 pounds (50.8 kg). Historical Examples noun a unit of weight equal to 100 pounds (45.3 kilograms)

  • Centaur

    Classical Mythology. one of a race of monsters having the head, trunk, and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse. (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Centaurus. a skillful horseman or horsewoman. (initial capital letter) Rocketry. a U.S. upper stage, with a restartable liquid-propellant engine, used with an Atlas or […]

  • Centare

    centiare.

  • Centaurs

    Classical Mythology. one of a race of monsters having the head, trunk, and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse. (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Centaurus. a skillful horseman or horsewoman. (initial capital letter) Rocketry. a U.S. upper stage, with a restartable liquid-propellant engine, used with an Atlas or […]


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