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"percent" in seven languages

Meaningpercent

Spanish

por ciento

/poɾ ˈθjento/

inherited

Por comes from PRO 'for', merged with PER.

French

pour cent

/puʁ sɑ̃/

inherited

Pour comes from PRO 'for'.

Italian

per cento

/per ˈtʃɛnto/

inherited

Portuguese

por cento

/poh ˈsẽtu/

inherited

Romanian

la sută

/la ˈsutə/

other source · la 'at' + sută 'hundred' (Old Church Slavonic sъto)

Romanian lost Latin CENTUM: its 'hundred' is Slavic.

Catalan

per cent

/pər sen/

inherited

English

percent

/pɚˈsɛnt/

from Latin/French · Italian per cento (Latinised per centum)

English → Italianpercentper centoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

PER CENTUM‘by the hundred’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

English took the phrase from Italian bankers' per cento. Spanish and French say 'for a hundred' (por ciento, pour cent); the hundred itself shows the soft c of each sister.

English relatives: cent, century, centimetre

Sound laws at work

C before E and IStressed short E breaks into ie

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esLos precios subieron un diez por ciento.
  • frLes prix ont augmenté de dix pour cent.
  • itI prezzi sono aumentati del dieci per cento.
  • ptOs preços subiram dez por cento.
  • roPrețurile au crescut cu zece la sută.
  • caEls preus han pujat un deu per cent.
  • enPrices rose by ten percent.

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