century [LME] In Latin centuria (from centum ‘hundred’) was used to refer to a group of 100, particularly a company in the ancient Roman army, made up of 100 men. Early usage of the English word carried the meaning ‘a hundred’, as in Shakespeare’s ‘a century of prayers’ in Cymbeline. The ‘100 years’ sense dates from the early 17th century, when it was used as a shortened form of the phrase ‘a century of years’. A batsman who scores a century in cricket, a hundred runs, perpetuates the older sense. See also hundred.