What is the origin of the cents sign?

Answer by  mammakat (11147)

I can't find an origin for the cent symbol, but I think an educated guess is that it may represent a portion of an entire coin, a slash through a half circle. The dollar sign came into use in the late 1700's, the cent may be variation of that, half of the dollar sign.

Answer by  patti (29325)

"Centum" is Latin for 100. The C represents 100. A line is drawn through it to show it as the symbol and not simply as a letter in the text. The cents sign means "1/100th," as in the case of a penny, which is 1/100 of one dollar.