Century

Pronunciation

UK IPA: /ËˆsÉ›n.tÊƒÉ™.É¹iË/
US IPA: /ËˆsÉ›n.tÊƒÉš.i/

Origin

From Latin centuria, from centum ("one hundred").

Full definition of century

Noun

century

(plural centuries)

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 yearhundred.

1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter Foreword, He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him … of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.
2013-07-20, The attack of the MOOCs, Since the launch early last year of … two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.

A unit in ancient Roman, 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.
(archaic) A hundred things; a hundred.

1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.4.2.i:'tis the subject of whole books: I might cite a century of authors pro and con.

(cricket) A hundred runs scored either by a single player in one innings, or by two players in a partnership.
(cycling) A ride 100 kilometres in length.
(US, informal) A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars.

Usage notes

Neither the word century itself nor phrases like the twentieth century are proper nouns. Therefore "in the twentieth century", "in the 20th century", and the like should be written with lowercase letters, except in contexts (like book titles) where even common nouns are capitalized.