Cent (currency)

Monetary unit in many national currencies

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A United States one-cent coin, also known as a penny.

The cent is a monetary unit of many national currencies that equals a hundredth (1⁄100) of the basic monetary unit. The word derives from the Latin centum, 'hundred'.

The cent sign is commonly a simple minuscule (lower case) letter c. In North America, the c is crossed by a diagonal or vertical stroke (depending on typeface), yielding the character ¢.

The United States one cent coin is generally known by the nickname "penny", alluding to the British coin and unit of that name. Australia ended production of their 1c coin in 1990,[1] New Zealand last produced their 1c coin in 1988,[2] as did Canada in 2012.[3][4] Some Eurozone countries ended production of the 1 euro cent coin, most recently Slovakia in 2022.[5]

## Symbol

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"¢" redirects here. For the musical symbol, see cut time. For the letter C with stroke, see Ȼ.

¢ c

Cent (currency)

In Unicode| U+00A2 ¢ CENT SIGN (&cent;)
U+0063 c LATIN SMALL LETTER C
Currency
Currency| various
Related
See also| U+FFE0 ￠ FULLWIDTH CENT SIGN
Different from
Different from| U+023C ȼ LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH STROKE
Category

The cent may be represented by the cent sign, written in various ways according to the national convention and font choice. Most commonly seen forms are a minuscule letter c crossed by a diagonal stroke, a vertical line, a simple c, depending on the currency (see below). Cent amounts from 1 to 99 can be represented as one or two digits followed by the appropriate abbreviation (2¢, 5c, 75¢, 99c), or as a subdivision of the base unit ($0.75, €0.99). In some countries, longer abbreviations like "ct." are used. Languages that use other alphabets have their own abbreviations and conventions.

The cent symbol has largely fallen into disuse since the mid-20th century as inflation has resulted in very few things being priced in cents in any currency. It was included on US typewriter keyboards, but has not been adopted on computers.[6]

### North American cent sign

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The cent sign appeared as the shift of the 6 keys on American manual typewriters, but the freestanding circumflex on computer keyboards has taken over that position.

### Orthography

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When written in English and Mexican Spanish, the cent sign (¢ or c) follows the amount (with no space between)—for example, 2¢ and $0.02, or 2c and €0.02. Conventions in other languages may vary.

## Usage

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East India Company half cent (1845).

Obverse: Crowned head left with lettering Queen Victoria | Reverse: Face value, year and "East India Company" inscribed inside wreath.
18,737,498 coins minted in 1845.

### Minor currency units called cent or similar names

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Examples of currencies around the world featuring centesimal (1⁄100) units called cent, or related words from the same root such as céntimo, centésimo, centavo or sen, are:

* Argentine peso (as centavo)
* Aruban florin, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 5 cents.
* Australian dollar, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 5 cents.
* Barbadian dollar
* Bahamian dollar, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 5 cents.
* Belize dollar
* Bermudian dollar
* Bolivian boliviano (as centavo), but all circulating coins are in multiples of 10 centavos
* Brazilian real (as centavo)
* Brunei dollar (as sen)
* Cambodian riel (as sen)
* Canadian dollar
* Cayman Islands dollar
* Chilean peso (as centavo). Centavos officially exist and are considered in financial transactions, but there are no current centavo-denominated coins.
* Colombian peso (as centavo)
* Cook Islands dollar (cent, although some 50 cent coins are marked "50 tene")
* Cuban peso (as centavo)
* East Caribbean dollar, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 5 cents.
* Eritrean nakfa
* Estonian kroon (as sent)
* Ethiopian birr (as santim)
* Euro – the coins bear the text "euro cent". Greek coins have ΛΕΠΤΟ ("lepto") on the obverse of the one-cent coin and ΛΕΠΤΑ ("lepta") on the obverse of the others. The actual usage varies depending on the language.
* Fijian dollar
* Guyanese dollar, but there are no circulating coins with a value below one dollar.
* Hong Kong dollar, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 10 cents.
* Indonesian rupiah (as sen; last coin minted was 50 cents in 1961, last cents printed as banknotes in 1964 which were demonetized in 1996 save for the 1 cent)
* Jamaican dollar, but there are no circulating coins with a value below one dollar.
* Kenyan shilling
* Lesotho loti (as sente)
* Liberian dollar
* Lithuanian litas (as centas)
* Macanese pataca (as avo), but all circulating coins are in multiples of 10 avos.
* Malaysian ringgit (as sen), but all circulating coins are in multiples of 5 sen.
* Mauritian rupee
* Mexican peso (as centavo)
* Moroccan dirham (as santim)
* Namibian dollar
* Netherlands Antillean guilder
* New Zealand dollar, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 10 cents.
* Panamanian balboa (as centésimo)
* Peruvian sol (as céntimo)
* Philippine peso (as sentimo or centavo)
* Seychellois rupee
* Sierra Leonean leone
* Singapore dollar, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 5 cents.
* South African rand, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 10 cents.
* Sri Lankan rupee
* Surinamese dollar
* Swazi lilangeni
* New Taiwan dollar, but all circulating coins are in multiples of 50 cents.
* Tanzanian shilling
* Tongan paʻanga (as seniti)
* Trinidad and Tobago dollar
* United States dollar
* Uruguayan peso (as centésimo)
* Zimbabwean ZiG

### Minor currency units with other names

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Examples of currencies featuring centesimal (1⁄100) units not called cent

Major unit  | Divided into

|

Bhutanese ngultrum | 100 chhertum
Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark | 100 pfeniga
Botswanan pula | 100 thebe
British pound | 100 pence (singular: penny) since Decimal Day, 1971
Bulgarian lev | 100 stotinki
Cyrillic: стотинки
("hundredths")
Chinese yuan | 100 fēn (分); in general usage, divided into 10 jiǎo (角).
Croatian kuna | 100 lipa
Danish krone | 100 øre
Egyptian pound | 100 piastres
Estonian mark | 100 penni (singular: penn)
Gambian dalasi | 100 bututs
Ghanaian cedi | 100 pesewas
Indian rupee | 100 paise
Israeli new shekel | 100 agorot
Macau pataca | 100 avos; circulating coins are 10, 20, and 50 avos.
Macedonian denar | 100 deni
Malawian kwacha | 100 tambala
Mongolian tögrög | 100 möngö
Nepalese rupee | 100 paisa
Pakistani rupee | 100 paise
Papua New Guinean kina | 100 toea
Polish złoty | 100 groszy (singular: grosz)
Qatari riyal | 100 dirhams
Romanian and Moldovan leu | 100 bani
Russian ruble | 100 kopeks
Saudi riyal | 100 halalas
Serbian dinar | 100 paras
Swedish krona | 100 öre
Swiss franc | German: 100 Rappen
French: 100 centimes
Italian: 100 centesimi
Romansch: 100 raps
Thai baht | 100 satang
Turkish lira | 100 kuruş
United Arab Emirates dirham | 100 fils
Ukrainian hryvnia | 100 kopiykas
Zambian kwacha | 100 ngwee

### Obsolete centesimal currency units

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Examples of currencies which formerly featured centesimal (1⁄100) units but now have no fractional denomination in circulation:

Major unit  | Formerly divided into

|

Costa Rican colón | (until the 1980s) 100 céntimos
Czech koruna | 100 haléřů
Hungarian forint | (until 1999) 100 fillér
Icelandic króna | 100 eyrir (singular aurar)
Japanese yen | 100 sen
Norwegian krone | 100 øre
South Korean won | 100 jeon
Swedish krona | (until 2010) 100 öre
Ugandan shilling | (until 2013) 100 cents.

## See also

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* Money portal
* Numismatics portal

* Cent (music)

## References

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1. ^ "One Cent". www.ramint.gov.au. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
2. ^ "1 Cent - Elizabeth II, New Zealand". en.numista.com. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
3. ^ "1 Cent - Elizabeth II, Canada". en.numista.com. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
4. ^ "1 Cent - Elizabeth II, Canada". en.numista.com. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
5. ^ "Po 1. júli 2022 budú končiť na Slovensku jedno a dvojcentové mince". www.bystricoviny.sk (in Slovak). 29 May 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
6. ^ Anderson, Charlie (13 November 2003). "The Demise of the ¢ Sign". charlieanderson.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.

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