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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RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
per, per an., per annum, per anum, per ardua ad astra, per capita, per cent, per centum, per contiguum, per continuum, per contra
Origin of per capita
1675–85; < Latin: literally, by heads
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples 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
Word Origin and History for per capita
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Culture 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.