📅 100 years 🛡️ A group of 100

century

191 2.5

A group of one hundred people, often a unit in the Roman army

noun
/ˈsɛnʧəri/

Archaic

: centuria

So, in the late 17th century, they fled to the New World.

Examples

The museum showcases artifacts from the 19th century that illustrate daily life at that time.
So it's, it's probably like second or third century AD.
Most are contemporary; a few are from early in this century and before.

Fiction book (1993)
Final question, in which century was the electric car invented?
And in the following century wages kept rising.
Women had to wait until the twentieth century, and blacks, in effect, until the 1960s.

Academic text (2008)
Sarah Thomas gives a profile of America's most popular artist of the 20th century, Norman Rockwell.

Fiction book (1994)
The underground room is filled with 21st-century equipment, consoles, and monitors.

Fiction book (1994)
The 21st century has seen remarkable advancements in technology.
In the early 20th century, many countries experienced significant political changes.

Compounds

turn of the century

37 3.9

A period of years around the start of a new century, about ten years before and after

half-century

33 3.0

A period of fifty years

twentieth century

33 1.0

The period from 1901 to 2000

quarter-century

27 2.8

A period of twenty-five years

century plant

8.4

A large plant with thick, sword-shaped leaves and a tall flower stalk

Surface Forms

century singular

centuries plural

Morphology

century = cent (transparent) = cent + ury

The Roman military subdivision and the idea 'group of one hundred' follow directly from 'cent' = 100 combined with a noun-forming ending, so the composition is clear.

Etymology

The military meaning of century also comes from the Latin word centum 'hundred'. In the Roman army a century was a group of 100 soldiers, so century can mean any group or unit of one hundred.