century

Meaning

Noun

• A period of 100 consecutive years; often specifically a numbered period with conventional start and end dates, e.g., the twentieth century, which stretches from (strictly) 1901 through 2000, or (informally) 1900 through 1999. The first century AD was from 1 to 100.
• A unit in ancient Roman army, originally of 100 army soldiers as part of a cohort, later of more varied sizes (but typically containing 60 to 70 or 80) soldiers or other men (guards, police, firemen), commanded by a centurion.
• A political division of ancient Rome, meeting in the Centuriate Assembly.
• A hundred things of the same kind; a hundred.
• A hundred runs scored either by a single player in one innings, or by two players in a partnership.
• A score of one hundred points.
• A race a hundred units (as meters, kilometres, miles) in length.
• A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars.

Origin

• From Middle English centurie ("a count of one hundred (of anything); a division of the Roman army; century; a division of land"), from Old French centurie, from Latin centuria, from centum. The most common modern use is a shortening of century of years.