Cent (currency)
The cent, commonly represented by the cent sign is a monetary unit of many national currencies that equals 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. The United States 1¢ coin is generally known by the nickname "penny", alluding to the British coin and unit of that name. Canada ended production of their 1¢ coin in 2012.
Symbol
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 or a vertical line, with a tick above and [|below], or by a simple c, depending on the currency. Cent amounts from 1 to 99 can be represented as one or two digits followed by the appropriate abbreviation, or as a subdivision of the base unit 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 can still be created in most common code pages, including Unicode and Windows-1252:
- On DOS- or Windows-based computers, is held while typing or on the numeric keypad. If there is no numeric keypad, as on many laptops, is typed in Windows Wordpad followed by and copy/paste the resulting ¢ into the target document. For the US International keyboard
c is typed. - On Macintosh systems, is held and on the number row is pressed.
- On Unix/Linux systems with a compose key, and are typical sequences.
Usage
Minor currency units called ''cent'' or similar names
Examples of currencies around the world featuring centesimal units called cent, or related words from the same root such as céntimo, centésimo, centavo or sen, are:- Argentine peso
- Aruban florin
- Australian dollar
- Barbadian dollar
- Bahamian dollar
- Belize dollar
- Bermudian dollar
- Bolivian boliviano
- Brazilian real
- Brunei dollar
- Canadian dollar
- Cayman Islands dollar
- Chilean peso. Centavos officially exist and are considered in financial transactions; however, there are no current centavo-denominated coins.
- Colombian peso
- Cook Islands dollar
- Cuban peso
- East Caribbean dollar
- Eritrean nakfa
- Estonian kroon
- Euro – the coins bear the text "Euro cent". Greek coins have ΛΕΠΤΟ on the obverse of the one-cent coin and ΛΕΠΤΑ on the obverse of the others. The actual usage varies depending on the language.
- Fijian dollar
- Guyanese dollar
- Hong Kong dollar, however all circulating coins are in multiples of 10 cents
- Indonesian rupiah
- Jamaican dollar
- Kenyan shilling
- Lesotho loti
- Liberian dollar
- Macau pataca
- Malaysian ringgit
- Mauritian rupee
- Mexican peso
- Moroccan dirham
- 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
- Trinidad and Tobago dollar
- United States dollar
- Uruguayan peso
- Zimbabwean dollar
Minor currency units with other names
| Major unit | Divided into |
| British pound | 100 pence since 1971 |
| Bulgarian lev | 100 stotinki Cyrillic: стотинки |
| Chinese Yuan/Renminbi | 100 fēn ; in general usage, divided into 10 jiǎo. |
| Croatian kuna | 100 lipa |
| Danish krone | 100 øre |
| Estonian mark | 100 penni |
| 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 |
| Mongolian tögrög | 100 möngö |
| Norwegian krone | 100 øre |
| Pakistani rupee | 100 paise |
| Polish złoty | 100 groszy |
| 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 kopijkas. |
Obsolete centesimal currency units
Examples of currencies which formerly featured centesimal units but now have no fractional denomination in circulation:Examples of currencies which use the cent symbol for other purposes:
- Costa Rican colón – The common symbol '¢' is frequently used locally to represent '₡', the proper colón designation
- Ghanaian cedi – The common symbol '¢' is sometimes used to represent '₵', the proper cedi designation