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 he succeeded Banda, the inflation rate was at 24% percent - by the time he left, it had shrunk to single digits.

From BBC

A study of fatal mass shootings, incidents in which four or more people were killed, from 2014 to 2019 found 59 percent were domestic violence.

From Salon

Anton Sommer’s cell phone was down to one percent and it was unclear when the power would be restored to his Forest Falls neighborhood, one of several San Bernardino Mountain communities impacted by mudslides.

From Los Angeles Times

Sixty-five percent of Democrats want their representatives in Congress “to stick to their positions even if that risks sacrificing bipartisan progress.”

From Salon

Thirty-eight percent of Conservative and Orthodox Jews disapproved or strongly disapproved of the war in the territory; 58% in the Reform category felt this way and 57% in the nonaffiliated one.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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