centimen.
/ˈsɒntiːm/, /sɒ̃ˈtiːm/, /ˈsɑːntiːm/, U.S. /ˈsɑnˌtim/, /ˌsɑnˈtim/ 1.
a. A monetary unit equal to one-hundredth of a franc (franc n. 2); a coin of this value.
(a) As used in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, and Andorra prior to the adoption of the euro (Euro n.2 1a). Also in other countries formerly having the franc as the principal monetary unit, as Tunisia, Algeria, etc. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > French coins > other French coins
denierc1425
Poitevina1475
blank1480
sousec1503
gigot1530
soulx1543
liarda1549
pistolor1550
obole1567
patard1583
double1586
whitea1634
sols1637
penny1656
centime1796
cent1810
sou1814
1796 Oracle & Public Advertiser 9 Nov. A duty of a centime per franc (100th part of a franc) should be laid on each ticket of admission.
1801 W. Dupré Lexicographia-neologica Gallica 42 A piece of five centimes is equal to a sou.
1844 New-Orleans Commerc. Bull. 3 Sept. The Belgian Tariff..has also been remodelled... Cotton pays now only one centime per hundred kilog. or 220 lbs.
1852 tr. L. Prus Resid. in Algeria 242 A bath of this description costs a stranger the moderate sum of one frank, twenty-five centimes; and the natives pay only fifty centimes.
1898 V. Bethell Ten Days at Monte Carlo iv. 44 We've had two egg-nogs... I suppose they contain two eggs at about twenty centimes each.
1911 N. Amer. Rev. Nov. 758 You will rejoin me in Tunis in ten days. Bring me more bats..from this country. I will give you fifty centimes apiece.
1918 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News & Sentinel 15 June 2/2 I got paid today. I drew ninety-four francs and fifty centimes, which is equal to about $19 in our money.
1997 Daily Tel. 21 Oct. 8/8 France's national mint plans to start coining euros next spring while phasing out francs and centimes, the small change of the French national currency.
2008 Art Bull. 90 249/2 A glass of absinthe cost ten centimes less than a glass of wine.
(b) As used in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and certain French-speaking countries and French territories in Africa and the Pacific in which the franc remains the principal monetary unit.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > standards and values of currencies > [noun] > specific monetary units or units of account > other spec.
markc1475
bar1732
rix-dollar1803
Canadian dollar1841
centime1842
pound1857
cent1871
commodity dollar1891
credit1893
shilling1921
centime1942
larin1978
1842 J. Murray Hand-bk. Travellers in Switzerland (new ed.) p. xv The canton of Geneva has adopted the French monetary system, and has coined pieces of 5 and 10 centimes in copper, and of 25 centimes in billon.
1896 Bradshaw's Illustr. Handbk. Switzerland (new ed.) Introd. p. vii Tariff [for telegrams] to England, 50 centimes Grundtaxe, and 30 cents per word.
1906 Visct. Mountmorres Congo Independent State 144 The district commissioner at Banzyville is really paying the natives about seventy-two centimes a kilogramme.
1964 R. Manheim tr. E. M. Remarque Night in Lisbon viii. 104 ‘Are we in Switzerland?’ he asked the newsboy. ‘Of course... Ten rappen.’ ‘What?’ ‘Ten rappen. Ten centimes. For the paper.’
1967 Rotarian June 60/1 Rotarians of Liechtenstein..donate 50 Swiss centimes for each employee of their firms, bringing a total of 1,500 francs.
1983 Economist 9 Apr. 45/1/ With so few stamps being stuck on mail that has to be delivered, Liechtenstein can afford to spend over 15 centimes on each 40 centimes stamp.
2006 M. Fitzpatrick et al. East Afr. (ed. 7) 597/2 The unit of currency is the Rwandan franc (Rfr). It is divided into 100 centimes, but these are no longer in circulation.
b. A monetary unit equal to one-hundredth of any of various principal monetary units, as the Algerian dinar, Moroccan dirham, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > standards and values of currencies > [noun] > specific monetary units or units of account > other spec.
markc1475
bar1732
rix-dollar1803
Canadian dollar1841
centime1842
pound1857
cent1871
commodity dollar1891
credit1893
shilling1921
centime1942
larin1978
1942 Amer. Anthropologist 44 672 The daily wage for an able-bodied male laborer in Haiti is one gourde per day, and..when a woman is employed for cash she earns from five to ten centimes daily.
1996 L. Al-Hafidh et al. Europe: Rough Guide (ed. 3) ii. xvii. 839/2 Morocco's basic unit of currency is the dirham (dh), which is divided into 100 centimes.
2004 S. Coonts & J. DeFelice Deep Black: Dark Zone xxxiii. 176 Dean took his change—two dirhams and fifty centimes.
2011 BBC Monitoring Middle East (Nexis) 4 Apr. Gendarmes..seized the sum of 12 billion centimes, that is, 120 million Algerian dinars.
2. One-hundredth of a larger monetary unit (specified in the context) which is not conventionally divided into centimes. Now rare.In quots. 1821, 2010 used for centesimo n.1
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > [noun] > small coins collectively > a small coin > of hundredth of standard
centime1821
centimo1862
1821 P. Kelly Universal Cambist (ed. 2) II. 26/2 Italian Livres and Centimes are reduced to sterling, and the contrary, in the same manner as Francs and Centimes of France, according to the given Course of Exchange.
1833 Examiner 14 Apr. 288/2 The United States..has reduced the duty to a nominal one, namely, to one centime of a dollar, or, in other words, to about a halfpenny per pound!
1866 W. D. Howells Venetian Life vi. 79 The soldo being the centime of the florin.
2010 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 22 Oct. (News & Features section) 22 His maternal grandfather..took from his wallet a small coin—five centimes of a lire.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1796