Centavo Explained

The centavo (Spanish and Portuguese 'one hundredth') is a fractional monetary unit that represents one hundredth of a basic monetary unit in many countries around the world.^[1] The term comes from Latin centum, with the added suffix -avo ('portion').

Coins of various denominations of centavos have been made from copper, stainless steel, aluminum-bronze, and silver.^[2]

Circulating

Places that currently use the centavo include:

• Argentine peso
• Bolivian boliviano
• Brazilian real
• Cape Verdean escudo
• Colombian peso
• Cuban peso
• Dominican peso
• East Timorese centavo coins
• Ecuadorian centavo coins
• Guatemalan quetzal
• Honduran lempira
• Macanese avos
• Mexican peso
• Mozambican metical
• Nicaraguan córdoba
• Philippine peso (In English usage; sentimo or céntimo is used in Tagalog and Spanish respectively.)

Obsolete

Former forms of the centavo that are no longer in use include:

• Brazilian cruzeiro (from 1942 to 1986 and from 1990 to 1993)
• Brazilian cruzado (from 1986 to 1989)
• Brazilian cruzado novo (from 1989 to 1990)
• Costa Rican colón (Between 1917 and 1920 only. As céntimo for other periods.)
• Ecuadorian sucre (New centavo coins continued to circulate after the sucre was replaced by U.S. dollar in 2000.)
• Salvadoran colón
• Guinea Bissau peso
• Mozambican escudo
• Portuguese escudo (before the euro was introduced)
• Portuguese Guinean escudo
• Portuguese Indian escudo
• Puerto Rican peso
• São Tomé and Príncipe escudo
• Venezuelan venezolano
• Venezuelan peso
• Chilean Cent (from 1975 to 1983, as a subdivision of the Chilean peso; out of circulation due to inflation^[3])

See also

• Cent (currency)
• Coin
• Céntimo

Notes and References

1. Book: Law . Jonathan . A Dictionary of Finance and Banking . March 2014 . OUP Oxford . 9780199664931 . 77 . 7 April 2023.
2. Book: Akin . Marjorie H. . Akin . Kevin . Bard . James C. . Numismatic Archaeology of North America . 5 May 2016 . Taylor & Francis . 9781315521329 . 7 April 2023.
3. Web site: Chilean Peso . eXchangeRate.com . 7 April 2023.