centum

/ˈkɛntəm/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin centum (“hundred”), attested at least since 1890s. Its use in linguistics is due to it being a canonical example of a word retaining an original velar stop, as opposed to Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬙𐬆𐬨 (satəm). Doublet of hundred and satem.

centum means referring to an Indo-European language that did not produce sibilants from a series of Proto-Indo-European palatovelar stops. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 83 out of 100.

adj

Referring to an Indo-European language that did not produce sibilants from a series of Proto-Indo-European palatovelar stops.“Table 10.1 shows the relative chronology of centum and satem entries to the west. Along each trajectory, centum languages precede satem languages, and the frontier languages, thos most clearly showing peripheral type shift, are centum.”

noun

Satakam, set of one hundred verses connected by the same metre or topic.“Tonda-mandala-sātacam, a centum of verses on the Conjeveram country, No. 148, C. M. 73. The sātacam is a poem of one hundred stanzas, in its appropriate metre.”
Perfect score on a board examination.“Achyuta Satakam is a centum in Prakrit Language; Devanayaka Panchasat (the fifty on Devanayaka), in sanskrit and several poetical works in Tamil.”