A cent is a hundredth of an acre. An acre is 43,560 square feet, so one cent is 435.6 square feet — exactly, not approximately, because the cent is defined as a share of the acre rather than measured separately.
The unit runs down the south and east of India. Kerala, Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh say cent; Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bangladesh say decimal, dismil or shotangsho for the same hundredth of an acre. Bihar’s own revenue glossary defines a dismil as about 435.6 square feet and an acre as 100 of them.
The sizes you will actually see
- 1 cent — 435.6 sq ft, roughly a 21 × 21 ft square.
- 2.5 cent — 1,089 sq ft, which is also exactly one guntha.
- 5 cent — 2,178 sq ft, a common house plot in Kerala.
- 10 cent — 4,356 sq ft, a tenth of an acre.
- 100 cent — 1 acre.
Watch the word on the document
A cent is not a percentage of your land: it is a hundredth of an acre, full stop. Ten cents is a tenth of an acre whatever the total plot measures. And a “decimal” on a Bihar or Bangladesh deed is this same unit — not a decimal fraction of a bigha, which is a different and much larger thing.