percentage
Meaning
An amount, number, or rate that is expressed as a number out of 100.
A share of the profits or benefits of something.
Structure
Usage
A high percentage of the population now uses smartphones.
The bank charges a small percentage for currency exchange.
What percentage of your income do you save each month?
Etymology
The word "percentage" is a direct mathematical descendant of the Latin phrase "per centum," meaning "by the hundred." The core element "cent" from Latin "centum" (hundred) is preserved, prefixed by "per" to convey the notion of reckoning or proportion. The suffix "-age," entering English via Old French, transforms the adverbial phrase into a noun denoting the resulting rate or proportion itself. Thus, the literal construction "by the hundred" evolved into the modern abstract concept of a value representing a part per hundred.
Analysis
- per: Latin origin, meaning "through, by, by means of". In this word, it functions as an intensifying prefix. - cent: Latin origin, from "centum", meaning "hundred". It functions as the core root denoting the number. - age: Latin origin, from the suffix "-aticum", forming nouns of action, state, or result. It functions as a noun-forming suffix.