A century is just 100 years, grouped together like a big team working on a long project.
Imagine you have a box of 100 blocks, that's one century! Each block could be a year. So when we say "the 21st century," it’s like saying "the 21st group of 100 blocks." We started counting from the year 1, so the first century was years 1 to 100, and now we're in the 21st one, which means we've had a lot of block groups!
How Centuries Work
If you think about your birthday party every year, after 100 parties, that’s one century of birthdays! People often name centuries to remember big changes. For example, the 20th century was from 1901 to 2000, a time when many things changed quickly, like technology and ways people lived.
Centuries are like chapters in a long story, each one has its own beginning and end, but they all help us understand how much time has passed.
Examples
- A century is like a group of 100 years, just as a decade is 10 years. The 21st century started in the year 2001 because we count from year 1.
- If you're born in 2010, you're part of the 21st century, but it's not until 2101 that we'll move to the next one.
- Every 100 years, we mark a new century. The last century was the 20th century (years 1901, 2000).
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See also
- Why Are There 60 Seconds in a Minute?
- What are calendars?
- How did time become something you could count?
- How did time become quantifiable?
- What is one Second - Knowit?