You use per cent to talk about amounts. For example, if an amount is 10 per cent (10%) of a larger amount, it is equal to 10 hundredths of the larger amount.
20 to 40 per cent of the voters are undecided. [+ of]
We aim to increase sales by 10 per cent.
The area has an unemployment level of 40 per cent.
Per cent is also an adjective.
There has been a ten per cent increase in the number of new students.
Per cent is also an adverb.
...its prediction that house prices will fall 5 per cent over the year.
It's 50 per cent wool, 50 per cent acrylic.
per cent in British English
(pə ˈsɛnt)
adverb
1. Also: per centum
in or for every hundred
Symbol: %
noun also: percent (pəˈsɛnt)
2.
a percentage or proportion
3. (often plural)
securities yielding a rate of interest as specified
he bought three percents
Word origin
C16: from Medieval Latin per centum out of every hundred
Examples of 'per cent' in a sentence
per cent
It says investors can earn up to 12 per cent interest a year.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The figures follow last year's five per cent rise in retail sales.
The Sun (2016)
Tea sales have plunged nearly five per cent, despite price cuts.
The Sun (2016)
When you find an item you love, see if you can find it five per cent cheaper.
The Sun (2016)
Companies that pay below the minimum wage can be fined up to 200 per cent of the amount owed.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The bank will also hand victims 8 per cent in annual interest on the money that was taken from their accounts.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
This involved 5.8 million incidents and amounted to 40 per cent of all crime.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Despite being at 0 per cent interest, unsecured debt is a sign that their household budget is not in check.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Sales of the old favourites were down by as much as 9 per cent while the amount spent on hot sauces rose 7.5 per cent.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They have improved one hundred per cent and they have some very dangerous players.
The Sun (2008)
The temperature was at one hundred degrees and the humidity one hundred per cent.
Peter McEvoy For Love or Money (2006)
One hundred per cent of my focus is on racing.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
It was a real shame but you have to be one hundred per cent right off the pitch first.
The Sun (2011)
One hundred and fifty per cent!
The Sun (2013)
The profits of the undertaking was said to have amounted to 600 per cent.
Oliver Morton Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet (2007)
We could set the percentage at 12 per cent.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
That amounted to 9 per cent of all companies.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
That is a win percentage of 61 per cent.
The Sun (2009)
Social services costs account for over 70 per cent of the amount spent in the public sector.
Brown, Muriel & Payne Sarah Introduction to Social Administration in Britain (1990)
Think only of the shot in hand, and give that your one hundred per cent attention.
Lewis, Beverly Winning Golf for Women (1993)
Their officials working alongside us in Bosnia were one hundred per cent behind what we were doing.
Stewart, Bob (Lt-Col) Broken Lives (1993)
It's a hundred per cent crooked.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The highest was 50 per cent of the amount needed to provide protection and the lowest was just ten per cent.
The Sun (2008)
The tax burden is already far too high, amounting to 56 per cent of national income.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The finalists' share of tickets amounts to 60 per cent.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The extra 3.2 per cent amounts to a pay cut of up to 6 per cent.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
That 1 per cent amounts to 1.5 billion.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Police say that typically 30 to 40 per cent of the amounts seized are refunded.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Health expenditure in Germany now amounts to 11 per cent of gross domestic product.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Win percentage: 51 per cent.
The Sun (2009)
A percentage of 60 per cent lean to 30 per cent fat is ideal.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
In other languages
per cent
British English: per cent /pɜː sɛnt/ ADVERB
You use per cent to talk about amounts. For example, if an amount is 10 per cent (10%) of a larger amount, it is equal to 10 hundredths of the larger amount.
...its prediction that house prices will fall 5 per cent over the year.
American English: per cent
Arabic: بِالْـمِائةِ
Brazilian Portuguese: por cento
Chinese: 百分数
Croatian: postotak
Czech: procento
Danish: procent
Dutch: procent
European Spanish: por cien
Finnish: prosenttia
French: pour cent
German: Prozent
Greek: τοις εκατό
Italian: per cento
Japanese: 百につき
Korean: ...퍼센트만큼
Norwegian: prosent
Polish: procent
European Portuguese: por cento
Romanian: la sută
Russian: выраженный в процентах
Latin American Spanish: por cien
Swedish: procent
Thai: เปอร์เซ็นต์
Turkish: yüzde
Ukrainian: відсоток
Vietnamese: phần trăm
British English: per cent NOUN
You use per cent to talk about amounts.
20 to 40 per cent of the voters are undecided.
American English: percent
Brazilian Portuguese: por cento
Chinese: 百分之一
European Spanish: por ciento
French: pour cent
German: Prozent
Italian: per cento
Japanese: パーセント
Korean: 퍼센트
European Portuguese: por cento
Latin American Spanish: por ciento
Chinese translation of 'per cent'
per cent
or percent
(pəˈsɛnt)
Word forms:plper cent
n(c)
百分之 ... (bǎi fēn zhī ... )
a 20 per cent discount优(優)惠百分之二十 (yōuhuì bǎi fēn zhī èrshí)