A hypothetical ancestor language representing one branch of Indo-European languages that pronounced the velar stop as 'k' sound, contrasting with Satem languages.
From Latin 'centum' meaning 'hundred,' used as the name for this language family because the word for 'hundred' is 'k' sound in centum languages but 'z' in Satem languages.
Linguists divide ancient Indo-European languages into two groups based on one simple sound: whether you said 'k-entum' or 's-atum' for the number 100—and from this one word, they can trace thousands of years of human migration and language evolution!
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