noun / adverb
percent
per-SENT/pərˈsɛnt/
A proportion expressed in parts for every hundred.
One shaded square out of a hundred represents one percent.
Etymology
The pieces mean “by the hundred,” expressing a proportion on a scale of one hundred. One percent therefore represents one part out of every hundred equal parts of a whole.
In context
25 percent of staff carrying out only research in Scotland are EU nationals in engineering technology that number rises to nearly one-half of all the academics employed here in Scotland
More examples
- Twenty percent of the seats were empty.
- The rate rose by three percent.
- She converted the fraction to a percent.
Forms
percent
percentage noun — A proportion expressed per hundred.
Similar words
- percentage
- A proportion stated per hundred.
- fraction
- Any part of a whole expressed numerically.