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 (pre-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 Spanish, céntimo is the common way of describing the euro cent.

50 Philippines Sentimos.

Current use

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

Portuguese cêntimo

• Angolan kwanza
• São Tomé and Príncipe dobra

Spanish céntimo

• Costa Rican colón (but as centavo between 1917 and 1920)
• Paraguayan guaraní
• Peruvian nuevo sol
• Philippine peso (In historical usage and in Filipino, but centavo is used in English)
• Venezuelan bolívar

Obsolete

Portuguese cêntimo

• Mozambican metica (never issued)

Spanish céntimo

• Sahrawi peseta
• Spanish peseta

References

1. ...deci, centi, milli, abbreviations of decimus, centimus, millimus and meaning tenth part, hundredth part, thousandth part