percent

American  

[per-sent] / pərˈsɛnt /

Or per cent

noun

percents plural

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.

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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 Scientific  

/ pər-sĕnt′ /

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

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percent Cultural  

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%.

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Commonly Confused

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

Derived Forms

• percental
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• percents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of percent

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

Explanation

A percent is part of something, split into a hundred pieces. For example, fifty percent of forty is twenty. You'll hear a lot about percent and percentages in math. A percent can go from 0 percent to 100 percent. A percent is calculated by comparing a part of something compared to the whole. A baseball player's batting average is a percent. Athletes are known for talking about numbers that are impossible, like "I gave 110 percent!" You can do that in slang, but don't try it in math class.

Example Sentences

It is a crisis hitting the whole German car industry -- BMW said Friday its second-quarter car sales had fallen almost five percent worldwide, dragged down by a 30.2-percent plunge in China.

From Barron's • Jul. 10, 2026

In that month, the popular average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.49 percent, up from 6.44 percent in May.

From Barron's • Jul. 9, 2026

In traditional Medicare, Mr. Halvorson wrote, “20% percent of diabetes patients routinely get ulcers and 20% of those ulcers turn into amputations.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 9, 2026

It is also a particular problem in Wales where it is the lowest of the four home nations and around 15 percent lower than the UK average, external.

From BBC • Jul. 9, 2026

Today, 79 percent of Filipinos are Catholic, making it one of the most Catholic nations in the world.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Related Words

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