cent English · revision 3017

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1375|origins=la centum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sent/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|cent|t=hundred]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|centum|t=hundred]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which is related to [[hundred]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Hoad also allows Italian cento as a source of the coin name.^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A hundred: before 1375 in Barnhart^(Barnhart 1988) and the late 14th century in Etymonline;^(Etymonline) the OED queries the sense and marks it obsolete.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Per cent'' is from 1568,^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) and under its influence the meaning moved in the 17th century to “a hundredth part” (1685).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Robert Morris used it in 1782 in a plan for American currency, in which a cent would have been about a 144th of a dollar.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) On 18 April 1786 a Board of Treasury report adopted it by the Continental Congress as the name of the hundredth part of a dollar;^(Etymonline) ''dime'' first appears as a coin name in the same document.^(Etymonline) Barnhart thinks the choice was probably influenced by the French centime.^(Barnhart 1988) The coin name spread to Canada and many Commonwealth countries,^(OED 1989) and the cent is now a unit of currency in many countries.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1375 – a hundred.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1568 – ''per cent''.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1685 – a hundredth part.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1782 – proposed by Robert Morris.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1786 – adopted as a US coin.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A unit of [[currency]] equal to one hundredth of a [[dollar]] or of other basic units.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A coin worth one cent; a [[penny]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(informal)'' A very small sum: ''not worth a cent''.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[half cent]]

+ * [[red cent]]

+ * [[ten-cent store]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[centennial]]

+ * [[centi-]]

+ * [[centipede]]

+ * [[centurion]]

+ * [[century]]

+ * [[hundred]]

+ * [[percent]]

+ * [[centime]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A different ''cent'' in the OED is an old card game (1532), said to be of Spanish origin.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}