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You are here: Home / History / Why did gangsters call a hundred dollar bill a “C-note” from the Latin word centum?

Why did gangsters call a hundred dollar bill a “C-note” from the Latin word centum?

June 4, 2020 by Karen Hill

It’s true that the Latin word centum means hundred, which is why “C” was used in Roman numerals to mean a hundred.

It’s also the reason why American dollar bills once had a C on them.

That’s the reason gangsters called them C-notes, not because a bunch of wise guys were out late one night conjugating verbs in an after-hours Latin bar.

Most gangsters just aren’t smart enough for complex theories.

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Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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