Céntimo

The céntimo (in Spanish-speaking countries) or cêntimo (in Portuguese-speaking countries) was a currency unit of Spain, Portugal and their former colonies. The word derived from the Latin centimus ^[1] meaning "hundredth part". The main Spanish currency, before the euro, was the peseta which was divided into 100 céntimos. In Portugal it was the real and later the escudo, until it was also replaced by the euro. In the European community cent is the official name for one hundredth of a euro. However, both céntimo (in Spanish) and cêntimo (in Portuguese) are commonly used to describe the euro cent.

Current use

Céntimo or cêntimo is one-hundredth of the following basic monetary units:

Portuguese cêntimo

Angolan kwanza
São Tomé and Príncipe dobra
Euro cent

Spanish céntimo

Costa Rican colón (but as centavo between 1917 and 1920)
Paraguayan guaraní
Peruvian sol
Philippine peso (also called centavo in English)
Venezuelan bolívar
Euro cent

Obsolete

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

Portuguese cêntimo

Mozambican metica (never issued)

Spanish céntimo

Peruvian inti
Peruvian sol (1863–1985)
Sahrawi peseta
Spanish peseta

References

^ ...deci, centi, milli, abbreviations of decimus, centimus, millimus and meaning tenth part, hundredth part, thousandth part (24 February 2010), ISBN 978-1145595941.