α. 1500s– per cent, 1700s– percent (now chiefly U.S.).
β. 1600s– per cent. (with point).
per centadv.n.
/pə ˈsɛnt/, U.S. /pər ˈsɛnt/ A. adv. With preceding numeral forming a nominal compound.
1. Expressing a proportion: (by a specified amount) for, in, or to every hundred; by the hundred. Also in weakened sense: expressing an approximate proportion of an entity which cannot be quantified numerically.In early use sometimes specifically with reference to a hundred pounds sterling, when an amount of money in or for every hundred pounds is specified (cf. quots. 1642, a1687). Cf. cent per cent at cent n.1 Phrases.Denoted by the symbol %. For an account of the origin of this sign in Italy in the 15th cent., from a MS abbreviation of Italian cento, see F. Cajori Hist. Math. Notations (1928) I. iii. 312.a (also one) hundred per cent: see hundred n. and adj. 2c.
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the world > relative properties > number > ratio or proportion > [adjective] > proportional > of percentage > specified
per cento1553
per cent1568
per centum1589
three per cent1880
1568 T. Gresham Let. 29 Aug. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. II. 314 Th' interest of xij. per cent by the yeare.
1642 Lanc. Tracts of Civil War (1844) 62 To be repayed with satisfaction after eight pounds per Cent.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1691) vi. 99 The Interest thereof was within this fifty years, at 10l. per Cent. forty years ago, at 8l. and now at 6l.
1710 London Gaz. No. 4658/2 The Blank Tickets bear seven per Cent. Interest.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. vi. 58 At the rate of ten per cent. therefore, the undertaker..will expect an yearly profit of about one hundred pounds only. View more context for this quotation
1804 G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 136 The Funds rose 1 per cent. on the news.
1843 J. A. Smith Product. Farming 153 The ash of the turnip bulb contains 16½ per cent. of soda.
1870 Nature 23 June 140/1 Neglect of it may result in an error up to 190 per cent.
1904 Worker (Sydney) 6 Aug. 7/1 Ninety per cent of the cooks do their full share of work.
1973 Times 21 Dec. 14/6 This trouble's cut my social life by about 35 per cent.
1990 Daily Mail 10 Mar. 10/2 A boy who was set on fire because he would not buy crack spent his 12th birthday yesterday recovering from 55 per cent burns.
2. As the second element of a compound used as a count noun; spec. in compounds (in plural) denoting public securities, esp. British Government stocks, paying a certain rate of interest. See also three per cents n. at three per cent n. Now chiefly historical.
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1667 S. Pepys Diary 30 Aug. (1974) VIII. 407 By that means my 10 per cent will continue to me the longer.
1720 London Gaz. No. 5864/4 Reversionary Annuities upon the 14 per Cents.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. iii. 555 The sinking fund has, no doubt, been considerably augmented..by the reduction of the redeemable four per cents. to three per cents . View more context for this quotation
1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands & Islands I. xiv. 246 Her four-per-cents. were conveyed to her nephew.
1880 F. Bowen Gleanings from Literary Life 72 It will be obliged to pay either $10,000 or $12,500, according as it has called the stock five per cents or four per cents.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) vi. 197 ‘If I was conservative and cautious,’ answered Jadwin, ‘I wouldn't be in this game at all. I'd be buying U.S. four percents.’
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiv. [Oxen of the Sun] 389 Did this traitor to his kind not seize that moment to discharge his piece against the empire of which he is a tenant at will while he trembled for the security of his four per cents?
1965 H. R. F. Keating Is Skin-deep, is Fatal xix. 229 I can't offer a great deal in the way of ackers. Though you'd get your ten per cent, old man.
1992 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 52 17 Later in 1793 the government consolidated most of its debt..into a single 5 percent rente, analogous to the British consolidation into three percents in 1751.
B. n.
1. A percentage. Also: a mark given as a percentage.
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the world > relative properties > number > ratio or proportion > [noun] > percentage > stating specified percentage
per cent1721
the world > relative properties > number > ratio or proportion > [noun] > percentage
centage1756
percentage1757
p.c.1874
per cent1905
1721 T. Odell Chimera II. i. 16 Do you talk to me o' per Cents, at the same time you are getting your Thousands?
1849 Sci. Amer. 7 July 331/2 The per cent of which this wheel is capable of transmitting will appear in the following calculation.
1883 Amer. Missionary July 209 The teacher read the per cents. of the examinations.
1905 G. W. Rolfe Polariscope 96 The per cent of sucrose in the sample.
1960 Anat. Rec. 138 395/2 The statistical significance..was calculated by determining the median for the combined population and comparing the percent of the animals that had cataracts in each group.
2002 Sport Fishing June 13/2 He missed the..question asking to quantify the percent of commercial (longline) versus recreational bycatch for Atlantic billfish.
2. One per cent; one part in every hundred.
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1824 W. Scott St. Ronan's Well II. i. 24 They say he allows half a per cent mair than ye do if the siller lies, and mine is but seldom steered.
1895 Overland Monthly Oct. 433/1 A tenth of a per cent difference in the moisture..and a different powder is produced.
1966 T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 v. 122 Always just that little percent on the wrong side of breaking even... Why don't I quit?
1971 Daily Tel. 27 Oct. 1/3 The retail price index has risen by only three-quarters of a per cent. in the three months since June.
1994 Sci. Amer. Mar. 9/3 The measurements have large errors (of tens of percents), so the results quoted are actually quite fuzzy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.n.1568