Cent

//sɛnt// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢.

    "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. 2
    a coin worth one-hundredth of the value of the basic unit wordnet
  3. 3
    A small sum of money. informal

    "He blew every last cent."

  4. 4
    a fractional monetary unit of several countries wordnet
  5. 5
    A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro.
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    A coin having face value of one cent (in either of the above senses).
  2. 7
    A hundredth of a semitone or half step.
  3. 8
    A unit of reactivity equal to one hundredth of a dollar.
  4. 9
    Abbreviation of century. abbreviation, alt-of
  5. 10
    Abbreviation of Latincentum (“one hundred”). abbreviation, alt-of, obsolete

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

  6. 11
    Abbreviation of centigrade. abbreviation, alt-of
  7. 12
    Abbreviation of center. abbreviation, alt-of

Synonyms

All synonyms
pennypennya continentala cursea damna darn

Example

More examples

"Fifty-two per cent of British women prefer chocolate to sex."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

Fugio centcent percentdollar-and-centhalf centred centten-centten-cent storeten-cent tourten-cent wordtwenty-five cent wordabout moneyabraham lincoln

More for "cent"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.