cento

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"cento" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cento” is uncommon English (frequency #68,914 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,914
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A hotchpotch, a mixture; especially a piece made up of quotations from other authors, or a poem containing individual lines from other poems.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cento · cento · English

cento · rank #68,914 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,914
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH challis

Nearest frequency peer: challis (+3 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “cento”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “cento” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cento
PropertyValue
Headwordcento
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Frequency rank#68,914
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “cento” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).centofalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “challis” (#68,917), “carillon” (#68,910), “chastened” (#68,918). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cento” is #68,914. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cento is uncommon English at frequency #68,914 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A hotchpotch, a mixture; especially a piece made up of quotations from other authors, or a poem containing individual lines from other poems.".

Zero misspellings are on record for cento in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin cento (“patchwork garment”). The correct English form is cento, spelled C-E-N-T-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    A hotchpotch, a mixture; especially a piece made up of quotations from other authors, or a poem containing individual lines from other poems.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cento appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. But, Sʳ, I will no longer tire your patience wᵗʰ these monsters (the subject of every contemptuous pamphlet) then with the madness of the Anabaptists, Quakers, Fift Monarchy-men, and a cento of unheard of heresies besides, which, at present, deform the once renowned Church of England, and approach so little to the pretended Reformation, which we in France…
  2. Now look out in the Gradus for Purus, and you find as the first synonime, lacteus; for coloratus, and the first synonime is purpureus. I mention this by way of elucidating one of the most ordinary processes in the ferrumination of these centos.

Etymology

From Latin cento (“patchwork garment”).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cento"?
"cento" is spelled C-E-N-T-O.
What does "cento" mean?
As a noun, "cento" means: A hotchpotch, a mixture; especially a piece made up of quotations from other authors, or a poem containing individual lines from other poems.
What is the origin of the word "cento"?
From Latin cento (“patchwork garment”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cento", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Burne#68,900Cluny#68,940Birks#68,874belch#68,863

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list