Centi is a prefix that means one hundredth, or one part out of a hundred equal parts. It comes from the Latin word for “hundred.”

You see centi most often in measurements. A centimeter is one hundredth of a meter, which means it takes exactly 100 centimeters to make a full meter.

Understanding centi helps you convert between units. If something is 250 centimeters long, you know that's 2.5 meters because you divide by 100.

The prefix shows up in other words too. A centipede literally means “hundred feet,” though most centipedes don't have exactly 100 legs. A century is 100 years. A centurion in ancient Rome commanded a unit of about 100 soldiers.