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

See Examples For:

percent percents

Seventy-three percent of small-business owners now identify as content creators, according to a June report by Constant Contact.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

Both main crude contracts were down 2.3 percent, with the Brent benchmark sitting at $92 a barrel.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

Melenchon is polling at between 16 and 17 percent, up from 12 percent in April, according to the survey of more than 1,700 French adults.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

At fourth, Paramount Pictures' "Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie" took in $9.1 million, down 55 percent on last weekend's opening.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

Only about 20 percent of the Academy students made it that far.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

“They are not accurate enough. I’m moving not well enough, so everything in my game, there are some percents missing. I don’t really know why.”

From New York Times ● May 30, 2021

Audiences tend to agree: a full 91 percent of them liked “Wonder Woman,” according to Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 63 and 62 percents for “Batman v. Superman” and “Suicide Squad,” respectively.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 30, 2017

"Fifty percent of them want him to, and 50 percent don't want him to. I try to play both 50 percents."

From Reuters ● Jan. 27, 2017

Market yields range from the low to mid-6 percents.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 31, 2016

Wearing it in class when the teacher droned on about fractions and percents.

From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies

Related Words

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