percent

Or per cent

[per-sent]

noun

1. Also called per centum. one one-hundredth part; 1/100.

2. percentage.

3. British.,  stocks, bonds, etc., that bear an indicated rate of interest.

adjective

1. figured or expressed on the basis of a rate or proportion per hundred (used in combination with a number in expressing rates of interest, proportions, etc.): %

   to get three percent interest.

percent

1. One part in a hundred. For example, 62 percent (also written 62%) means 62 parts out of 100.

percent

1. A fraction expressed as a number of hundredths. Twelve percent of a quantity, for example, is twelve one-hundredths of it. Twelve percent may also be written 12%.

Confusables Note

In the senses “rate or proportion per hundred” and “proportion in general” percent and percentage are frequently interchangeable. With a preceding number, only percent occurs ( a 16 percent decline ); with no preceding number, either occurs, but percentage is much more common: a certain percentage (or percent ) of the land.

Other Word Forms

• percental adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of percent¹

First recorded in 1560–70; short for Medieval Latin per centum “by the hundred”; per, cent

Example Sentences

When they tested it in the streets of Trondheim, they achieved an accuracy that was better than ten centimeters 90 percent of the time.

Read more on Science Daily

Lai reiterated on Friday plans to ramp up defence spending to more than three percent of gross domestic product next year and five percent by 2030, "showing our determination to safeguard the nation".

Read more on Barron's

While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled.

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Forty-four percent of respondents cited high prices as eroding their finances, the highest share in a year.

Read more on Barron's

"Thirty nine percent tariffs: I was just shocked," says Jan Atteslander, director of international relations for the Swiss business federation Economiesuisse.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• bonus 
• chunk 
• fee 
• interest 
• proportion 
• rate 
• ratio 
• royalty