cent
/sɛnt/noun
cent is spelled C-E-N-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 68 times per million words in written English, the 1,562nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cent means “A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cent is cents or cents..
How many letters and syllables are in cent?
| Letters | 4: C-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 68 times per million words; the 1,562nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is cent?
Cent appears 68 times per million words in written English, the 1,562nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cent?
- /sɛnt/
Cent has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with cent
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: scent, sent (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of cent
- cents plural
- cent.
- cents. plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢.
- 2
informalA small sum of money.
He blew every last cent.
- 3
A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro.
- 4
A coin having face value of one cent (in either of the above senses).
- 5
A hundredth of a semitone or half step.
- 6
A unit of reactivity equal to one hundredth of a dollar.
- 7
Abbreviation of century.
- 8
obsoleteAbbreviation of Latincentum (“one hundred”).
And broght with hem many stout cent / Of green lordynges.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate cent?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of cent: c..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cent, centime, sou , pièce d'un cent |
| German | Cent |
| Portuguese | cêntimo , centavo |
| Spanish | centavo, céntimo, centésimo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cent come from?
From Middle English cent, from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).