An alternate name in Britain for the U.S. hundredweight, which is equal to exactly 100 pounds (the British hundredweight is 112 pounds).

Introduced by British merchants around 1850, the name was apparently coined after the model of the quintal.

The cental has been confused with the centner (the English name for a German weight or mass unit, the zentner (equal to English hundredweight), equal to 50 kilograms or about 110.231 pounds).

The name centner should not be used for the cental.