# percentage

Pronunciation: say "pur-SEN-tij" /pə(ɹ)ˈsɛntɪd͡ʒ/

## Noun

1. An amount, number, or rate of something seen as part of a total of 100; a portion of a whole.
   - Simple: A part of a whole, counted as a number out of 100.
   - _A large percentage of the graduating class found work within six months._
   - _The percentage of voters under thirty rose sharply in this election._
2. A share of the sales, profits, or gross margin that someone receives.
   - Simple: A part of the money made from sales or profits that someone gets.
   - _The agent takes a percentage of every deal she closes._
   - _He works on commission, earning a percentage of total sales._
3. Benefit or advantage to be gained from a course of action. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A good reason or gain you get from doing something.
   - _There's no percentage in arguing with the referee over a clear call._
   - _She couldn't see any percentage in staying at the dead-end job._

## Origin

This comes from percent, from the Latin per centum ("for every hundred"), combined with the suffix -age, which indicates a rate.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/percentage (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).