cent: [16] Centum is the Latin word for ‘hundred’ – indeed both come ultimately from the same Indo-European source, *kmtóm. It first appeared in English in the form cent in the phrase per cent (originally used apparently by the financier Sir Thomas Gresham in a letter of 1568: ‘the interest of xij per cent by the year’); this was probably borrowed from Italian per cento (it is not a genuine Latin phrase). The use of cent for a unit of currency dates from the 1780s, when it was adopted by the newly founded USA; its status as one hundredth of a dollar was officially ordained by the Continental Congress on 8 August 1786. => century
cent (n.)
late 14c., from Latin centum "hundred" (see hundred). Middle English meaning was "one hundred," but it shifted 17c. to "hundredth part" under influence of percent. Chosen in this sense in 1786 as a name for a U.S. currency unit by Continental Congress. The word first was suggested by Robert Morris in 1782 under a different currency plan. Before the cent, Revolutionary and colonial dollars were reckoned in ninetieths, based on the exchange rate of Pennsylvania money and Spanish coin.
双语例句
1. By 1973 the government deficit equalled thirty per cent of GNP.
到1973年，政府财政赤字相当于国民生产总值的30%。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Almost ninety per cent of all rapes and violent assaults went unreported.
几乎90%的强奸案和暴力侵害案都没有报案。
来自柯林斯例句
3. "Prices are down 40 per cent since Christmas," he lamented.
“圣诞节以来物价降了4成，”他悲叹道。
来自柯林斯例句
4. In 1986, 44 per cent of those admitted to articles were women.
1986年，44％的实习生为女性。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The bank yesterday revealed a 30 per cent nosedive in profits.
