Centigrade

The word centigrade comes from "centi-" for 100 and "grade" for gradients. Centigrade is the most common temperature scale in the world and the simplest to understand. Interestingly, centigrade is an old fashioned name for Celsius. The freezing point of water for Celsius is 0°C, whereas the boiling point of water is 100°C.

The abbreviation of Celsius is to °C. This temperature scale was invented and named after Swedish scientist Anders Celsius (1701-1744) in 1742.