por ciento
/poɾ ˈθjento/
The English word 'percent' is translated into Spanish as por ciento.
Use por ciento when you want to express a specific value or amount that is part of a whole divided into one hundred equal pieces, such as 10%.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase por ciento literally translates to 'per hundred'.
Which one should you use?
While por ciento is used for specific numerical values, the related noun porcentaje is used to refer to the general concept of a percentage.
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase por ciento is invariable, which means it does not change its form to agree with the noun it modifies.
How do you pronounce it?
/poɾ ˈθjento/
Did you know?
- In some Spanish-speaking countries, the decimal comma is used instead of a point, so 10.5% is written as 10,5 % with a space before por ciento.
- The word ciento shares its ancient roots with the English word 'hundred', both tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱm̥tóm.
- In Spanish, the symbol '%' is read as por ciento when following a number, but the word for the symbol itself is signo de porcentaje.
Examples in context
- El porcentaje de éxito es del 75%The success rate is 75%
- veinticinco por ciento25%
- el aumento del diez por cientoThe 10% increase
- una humedad del cincuenta por ciento50% humidity
- El porcentaje de aprobación es del 90%The approval rate is 90%
- Solo el diez por ciento de los estudiantes logró la máxima calificaciónOnly ten percent of the students achieved the highest grade
- ¡Hoy tenemos un descuento del treinta por ciento en todos los productos!Today we have a thirty percent discount on all products!
- El diez por ciento de la población.Ten percent of the population.
- El descuento es del diez por ciento.The discount is ten percent.
- Solo un por ciento de la gente asistió.Only one percent of the people attended.
- Ganamos un por ciento más este año.We gained one percent more this year.
Example conversation
Lucía and Javier are talking about a store sale.
- LucíaMira, este vestido tiene un veinte por ciento.Look, this dress has twenty percent off.
- JavierEs un buen precio, Lucía.It is a good price, Lucía.
- Lucía¿Crees que hay un cien por ciento de descuento?Do you think there is a hundred percent discount?
- JavierNo, Javier no cree que sea gratis.No, Javier doesn't think it's free.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry por ciento, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ciento, por, por ciento, CC BY-SA 4.0.
