Century
/ˈsɛn.tʃʊr.i/noun
A period of one hundred years.
Did you know?The word 'century' comes from the Latin 'centuria', which originally referred not just to time, but also to a military unit of a hundred soldiers, linking time and power in a single concept.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
centuria
“A group of one hundred, often used in military contexts.”
Old French
Old French
centurie
“A period of a hundred years, derived from Latin.”
Middle English
Middle English
centurie
“A hundred-year period, borrowed from Old French.”
Modern English
English
century
“The current term, retaining the meaning of a one-hundred-year span.”