Centum is the collective name for the branches of Indo-European in which the so-called Satem shift, the change of palato-velar *k^, *g^, *g^h into fricatives or affricates, did not take place, and the palato-velar consonants merged with plain velars (*k, *g, *gh). Most of the Centum languages preserve Proto-Indo-European labio-velars (*kw, *gw, *gwh) or their historical reflexes as distinct from plain velars; for example, PIE *k, *kw > Latinc /k/, qu /kw/, Greek /k/, /p/ (or /t/ before front vowels), Gothic /h/, /hw/, etc.
The name Centum comes from the Latin word centum '100', pronounced [kentum] < PIE *k^mtom, illustrating the falling together of *k and *k^. Compare Sanskrits′ata- or Russiansto, in which *k^ changed into a fricative.
More specifically, in the sense of Brugmann's "languages with labialization", the Centum group includes Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek, and possibly a number of minor and little known extinct groups (such as Venetic and the ancient Macedonian language and probably the Illyrian languages).
Tocharian, on the other hand collapsed all rows into a single velar row, and is therefore typically considered "Centum", although the relative chronology of the change is unknown.
The velar rows remain separate in Luwian, while Hittite may secondarily have undergone a Centum change, but the exact phonology is unclear.
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