percent

percent
—percental, adj.
/peuhr sent"/, n.
1. Also called per centum. one one-hundredth part; 1/100.
2. percentage (defs. 1, 3).
3. Brit. stocks, bonds, etc., that bear an indicated rate of interest.
adj.
4. 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. Symbol: %
Also, per cent.
[1560-70; short for ML per centum by the hundred. See PER, CENT]
Usage. PERCENT is from the Latin adverbial phrase per centum meaning "by the hundred." The Latin phrase entered English in the 16th century. Later, it was abbreviated per cent. with a final period. Eventually, the period was dropped and the two parts merged to produce the modern one-word form PERCENT. The two-word form PER CENT is still used occasionally, but its use is diminishing. The percent sign (%) is used chiefly in scientific, tabular, or statistical material and only with numerals preceding it: 58%.
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.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

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  • percent — I. adverb Etymology: earlier per cent, from per + Latin centum hundred more at hundred Date: 1568 in the hundred ; of each hundred II. noun (plural percent or percents) Date: 1667 …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • percent —  , percentage point  If interest rates are 10 percent and are raised to 11 percent, they have gone up by one percentage point, but by 10 percent in value (i.e., borrowers must now pay 10 percent more than previously). In everyday contexts the… …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

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