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Centime (from Latin centesimus) is French for "cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries (including Switzerland, Algeria, Belgium, Morocco and France).
In France the usage of centime goes back to the introduction of the decimal monetary system under Napoleon. This system aimed at replacing non-decimal fractions of older coins. A five-centime coin was known as a sou, i.e. a solidus or shilling.
Subdivision of euro: cent or centime?
In the European community cent is the official name for 1/100 of a euro. However, in french-speaking countries the word centime is the one preferentially used. Indeed, the Conseil supérieur de la langue française of Belgium recommends in 2001 the use of centime, since the word cent has two meanings ("cent" and "hundred"). An analogous decision is published in Journal officiel in France (December 2, 1997).
In Morocco, dirhams are divided into 100 centimes and one may find prices in the country quoted in centimes rather than in dirhams. Sometimes centimes are known as francs or in former Spanish areas, pesetas.
Usage
Centime is one hundredth of the following basic monetary units:
Current
- Algerian dinar
- Burundian franc
- CFP franc
- CFA franc
- Comorian franc
- Congolese franc
- Djiboutian franc
- Ethiopian birr (as santim)
- Guinean franc
- Haitian gourde
- Latvian lats (Latvian: santīms)
- Moroccan dirham
- Rwandan franc
- Swiss franc (by French speakers only)
Obsolete
"Centime"