Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A unit of currency that is equal to 1/100 of the primary unit of currency in many Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, including Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
  • noun A former unit of currency that was equal to 1/100 of the Portuguese escudo.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cent, or hundredth part of a dollar or peso, in Chili, Paraguay, Venezuela, Manila, etc.
  • noun A current coin of Bolivia, the hundredth part of a boliviano.
  • noun A current coin of Ecuador, the hundredth part of a sucre, equal to forty-nine hundredths of a United States cent.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a fractional monetary unit of several countries such as El Salvador, St. Thomas and Principe, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, and Portugal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Currency unit (hundredth of a peso) in Mexico
  • noun A similar subdenomination of various other currencies.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a fractional monetary unit of several countries: El Salvador and Sao Tome and Principe and Brazil and Argentina and Bolivia and Colombia and Cuba and the Dominican Republic and Ecuador and El Salvador and Guatemala and Honduras and Mexico and Nicaragua and Peru and the Philippines and Portugal

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, hundredth, from Latin centum, hundred; see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • One centavo is more or less equivalent to a US cent.

    Is there a tax on groceries? 2005

  • The price of the 10 percent security due in December 2024 rose 0.32 centavo to 115.34 centavos per peso, according to Banco Santander SA.

    Mexican pesos bonds 2009

  • Tio Greenglee! when I arrive home in my beat up old pickup (I suspect this has something to do with my magically making a 50 centavo coin appear from behind their little ears).

    No Problem With "Gringo" 2009

  • Tio Greenglee! when I arrive home in my beat up old pickup (I suspect this has something to do with my magically making a 50 centavo coin appear from behind their little ears).

    No Problem With "Gringo" 2009

  • Tio Greenglee! when I arrive home in my beat up old pickup (I suspect this has something to do with my magically making a 50 centavo coin appear from behind their little ears).

    No Problem With "Gringo" 2009

  • Tio Greenglee! when I arrive home in my beat up old pickup (I suspect this has something to do with my magically making a 50 centavo coin appear from behind their little ears).

    No Problem With "Gringo" 2009

  • The price of the 10 percent security due in December 2024 rose 0.32 centavo to 115.34 centavos per peso, according to Banco Santander SA.

    Mexican pesos bonds 2009

  • The price of the 10 percent security due in December 2024 rose 0.32 centavo to 115.34 centavos per peso, according to Banco Santander SA.

    Mexican pesos bonds 2009

  • Tio Greenglee! when I arrive home in my beat up old pickup (I suspect this has something to do with my magically making a 50 centavo coin appear from behind their little ears).

    No Problem With "Gringo" 2009

  • I show them peons — ­ten-centavo men when we took them, and five-peso men when I showed them.

    CHAPTER XV 2010

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