Cent (currency)
In many national currencies, the cent, commonly represented by the cent sign (a minuscule letter c crossed by a stroke line: ¢; or a simple c) is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word centum meaning hundred.
Cent also refers to a coin worth one cent. In the United States, the 1¢ coin is generally known by the nickname "penny", alluding to the British coin and unit of that name. In Canada, production of the 1¢ coin was ended in 2012.
Symbol
| ¢/c. | |
|---|---|
Cent (currency) | |
| In Unicode | U+00A2 ¢ CENT SIGN (¢)
U+0063 c LATIN SMALL LETTER C |
| Currency | |
| Currency | various |
| Related | |
| See also | U+FFE0 ￠ FULLWIDTH CENT SIGN |
 Category | |
The cent may be represented by the cent sign, written in various ways according to national convention and font choice. Most commonly seen forms are a minuscule letter c crossed by a stroke, with a tick above and below, or by 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 (15c, 75¢, 95c), or as a subdivision of the base unit (£0.15, $0.75, €0.95). In some countries, longer abbreviations like "ct." are used. Languages that use other alphabets have their own abbreviations and conventions.
The cent sign appeared as the shift of the 6 key on American manual typewriters, but that position has been taken over by the caret on computer keyboards. The character (offset 162) can still be created in most common code pages, including Unicode and Windows-1252:
- On DOS- or Windows-based computers, Alt is held while typing 0162 or 155 on the numeric keypad.[1] If there is no numeric keypad, as on many laptops, A2 is typed in Windows Wordpad followed by Alt+X and copy/paste the resulting ¢ into the target document. For the US International keyboard <Right Alt> <Shift> c is typed (Windows).
- On Macintosh systems, ⌥ Option is held and 4 on the number row is pressed.
- On Unix/Linux systems with a compose key, Compose+|+C and Compose+/+C are typical sequences.
When written in English, the cent sign (¢/c) follows the amount (with no space between)—for example, 20¢/$0.20 or 2c/€0.02.[citation needed]
Usage
| 0.5¢ by East India Company (1845). | |
|---|---|
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| |
| Obverse: Crowned head left with lettering Queen Victoria | Reverse: Face value. I , year and "East India Company" inscribed outside wreath. |
| 18,737,498 coins minted in 1845. | |
Examples of currencies around the world featuring centesimal (1⁄100) units called ¢, or related words from the same root such as sen, are:
- Argentine peso
- Aruban florin
- Australian dollar
- Barbadian dollar
- Bahamian dollar
- Belize dollar
- Bermudian dollar
- Bolivian boliviano
- Brazilian real
- Brunei dollar (as sen)
- Canadian dollar
- Cayman Islands dollar
- Chilean peso. ¢ officially exist and are considered in financial transactions; however, there are no current ¢-denominated coins.
- Colombian peso
- Cook Islands dollar (cent, although some 50¢ coins are marked "50 tene")
- Cuban peso
- East Caribbean dollar
- Eritrean nakfa
- Estonian kroon (as sent)
- Euro – the coins bear the text "Euro cent". Greek coins have ΛΕΠΤΑ/λεπτα ("lepta") on the obverse. The actual usage varies depending on the language.
- Fijian dollar
- Guyanese dollar
- Hong Kong dollar, however all circulating coins are in multiples of 10¢
- Indonesian rupiah (as sen)
- Jamaican dollar
- Kenyan shilling
- Lesotho loti (as sente)
- Liberian dollar
- Malaysian ringgit (as sen)
- Mauritian rupee
- Mexican peso
- Moroccan dirham (as santim)
- Namibian dollar
- Netherlands Antillean gulden
- New Zealand dollar
- Panamanian balboa
- Peruvian nuevo sol
- Philippine peso
- Seychellois rupee
- Sierra Leonean leone
- Singapore dollar
- South African rand
- Sri Lankan rupee
- Surinamese dollar
- Swazi lilangeni
- New Taiwan dollar
- Tanzanian shilling
- Tongan paʻanga (as seniti)
- Trinidad and Tobago dollar
- United States dollar
- Uruguayan peso
- Zimbabwean dollar
Examples of currencies featuring centesimal (1⁄100) units not called cent
- British pound – divided into 100 pence (singular: penny) since 1971
- Bulgarian lev (as stotinka, Bulgarian: стотинка ("hundredth")
- Chinese Yuan/Renminbi – divided into 100 fēn (分); in general usage, divided into 10 jiǎo (角).
- Croatian kuna – divided into 100 lipa
- Danish krone – divided into 100 øre
- Estonian mark – divided into 100 penni (nominative: penn)
- Indian rupee – divided into 100 paise
- Israeli new shekel – divided into 100 agorot
- Macao pataca – divided into 100 avos, however all circulating coins are in multiples of 10 avos
- Macedonian denar – divided into 100 deni
- Mongolian tögrög – divided into 100 möngö
- Norwegian krone – divided into 100 øre
- Pakistani rupee – divided into 100 paise
- Polish złoty – divided into 100 groszy (singular: grosz)
- Romanian and Moldovan leu – divided into 100 bani
- Russian ruble – divided into 100 kopeks
- Saudi riyal;– divided into 100 halalas
- Serbian dinar – divided into 100 paras
- Swedish krona – divided into 100 öre
- Swiss franc – divided into 100 rappen (known as centime in French and centesimo in Italian)
- Thai baht – divided into 100 satang
- Turkish Lira – divided into 100 kuruş
- United Arab Emirates dirham – divided into 100 fils
- Ukrainian hrywnia – divided into 100 kopijkas.
Examples of currencies which formerly featured centesimal (1⁄100) units:
- Costa Rican colón – no fractional denomination in circulation since the 1980s, formerly divided into 100 céntimos.
- Czech koruna – no fractional denomination in circulation, formerly divided into 100 hellers
- Hungarian forint – formerly divided into 100 fillér, the last fillér coin was removed from circulation in 1999, but it continues to be used in calculation, i.e. for petrol. Fillér was also used as the centesimal unit for the currencies preceding the forint: the Hungarian pengő, the Hungarian korona and the Austro-Hungarian krone.
- Icelandic króna – no fractional denomination in circulation, formerly divided into 100 eyrir.
- Japanese yen – no fractional denomination in circulation, formerly divided into 100 sen and 1000 rin.
- South Korean Won no fractional denomination in circulation, formerly divided into 100 jeon.
- Ugandan shilling – no fractional denomination in circulation since 2013, formerly divided into 100 cents.
