centum

1
[ sen-tuhm ]

noun
  1. one hundred.

Origin of centum

1
From Latin; see origin at hundred

Words Nearby centum

Other definitions for centum (2 of 2)

centum2
[ ken-tuhm, -toom ]

adjective
  1. belonging to or consisting of those branches of the Indo-European family of languages that preserve the Proto-Indo-European labiovelar stops but merge the palatal stops into the velar stops. The centum branches include Germanic, Celtic, Italic, and Hellenic.

Origin of centum

2
First recorded in 1900–05; from Latin, exemplifying in c- the outcome of Indo-European palatal velar stops characteristic of the group

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How to use centum in a sentence

  • Where such cases occur, patients should be fully prepared for the worst As a rule, the mortality is from 40 to 70 per centum.

  • Twenty-five per centum of all women over 60 years of age are found to have gall-stones.

  • It does more: in 90 per centum of cases it will prevent successful infection with smallpox.

  • Coins should be boiled, and paper money should be dipped in the 10 per centum carbolic acid solution and dried at a stove.

  • At least 70 per centum of the patients affected show a family history of insanity in some forms.

British Dictionary definitions for centum

centum

/ (ˈsɛntəm) /


adjective
  1. denoting or belonging to the Indo-European languages in which original velar stops (k) were not palatalized, namely languages of the Hellenic, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Anatolian, and Tocharian branches: Compare satem

Origin of centum

1
Latin: hundred, chosen because the c represents the Indo-European k

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012