Where does “cents” come from?
cents (French) comes from French cent, from English cent, from Middle English cent, from Old French cent, from Latin centum, from Latin folium, from Proto-Italic *foljom, from Proto-Indo-European bʰolh₃yom.
cents (French): plural of cent
Ancestry of “cents”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | French | cent | hundred; cent |
| 2 | English | cent | A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of... |
| 3 | Middle English | cent | — |
| 4 | Old French | cent | one hundred |
| 5 | Latin | centum | a hundred; 100 |
| 6 | Latin | folium | a leaf; a petal; a sheet or leaf of paper |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | *foljom | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰolh₃yom | leaf |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰleh₃- | bloom, flower |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰel- | to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰōl- | — |