century English · revision 3295

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1398|origins=la centum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈsen.tʃər.i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|centuria|t=a group of a hundred; a company of a hundred men]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000)^(Etymonline) irregularly from [[m|la|centum|t=hundred]],^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988) formed on the analogy of [[m|la|decuria|t=a company of ten]].^(Etymonline) Latin centum goes back to [[ine-pro|*dekm̥|t=ten]], and is related to English [[hundred]].^(AHD 2000)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A Roman measure of land: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew;^(Barnhart 1988) a division of the Roman army of about a hundred men is from about 1450^(Barnhart 1988) (the OED's first quotation is from 1533).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the late 16th century the word came to mean any group of a hundred things,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) as in Shakespeare's “a century of prayers” in ''Cymbeline''.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Barnhart 1988) Latin centuria was not used of a hundred years, for which saeculum was the word.^(Etymonline) The phrase ''a century of years'' is from the 1620s (1626),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and, shortened, ''century'' alone came to mean a period of a hundred years, before 1638^(Barnhart 1988) or by the 1650s.^(Etymonline) The older general sense survives in cricket, where a century is a score of a hundred runs.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) In American slang a century was a hundred dollars, from 1859.^(OED 1989) The century plant, thought to flower only after a hundred years, is from 1843.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1398 – a measure of land.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1450 – a Roman army unit.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1598 – a group of a hundred.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1626 – ''a century of years''.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1638 – a hundred years.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1843 – century plant.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1859 – a hundred dollars (slang).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A period of a hundred years.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Each of the hundred-year periods counted from the traditional date of the birth of Christ: ''the 19th century''.^(AHD)

+ # ''(cricket)'' A score of a hundred runs by one batsman.^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021)

+ # ''(Roman history)'' A unit of the Roman army of about a hundred men, commanded by a [[centurion]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(Roman history)'' One of the 193 voting divisions of the Roman people.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[centurylong]]

+ * [[centurial]]

+ * [[centuried]]

+ * [[half-century]]

+ * [[century plant]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[centurion]]

+ * [[cent]]

+ * [[centennial]]

+ * [[centenary]]

+ * [[percent]]

+ * [[hundred]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}