per capita
[ per -kap-i-tuh ]
/ pər ˈkæp ɪ tə /
adjective, adverb
by or for each individual person: income per capita.
Law. noting or pertaining to a method of dividing an estate by which all those equally related to the decedent take equal shares individually without regard to the number of lines of descent.Compare per stirpes.
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Origin of per capita
1675–85; <Latin: literally, by heads
Words nearby per capita
perborax, perboric acid, Perbunan, percale, percaline, per capita, perceivable, perceive, perceived noise decibel, percent, percentage
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for per capita
British Dictionary definitions for per capita
per capita
/ (pə ˈkæpɪtə) /
adjective, adverb
of or for each person
Word Origin for per capita
Latin, literally: according to heads
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for per capita
per capita
[ (puhr kap-i-tuh) ]
A Latin phrase literally meaning “by heads,” and translated as “for each person.” It is a common unit for expressing data in statistics. A country's per capita personal income, for example, is the average personal income per person.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.