パーセンテージ
pāsentēji[pa̠ːsẽ̞nte̞ːʑi]
The English phrase 'percentages' is translated into Japanese as パーセンテージ (pāsentēji).
The term refers to numbers or rates expressed as a fraction of one hundred. While パーセンテージ is the direct translation for 'percentage', Japanese speakers almost always use the shorter form パーセント when referring to a specific percentage value, such as '10 percent', in both daily conversation and news reporting.
Which one should you use?
パーセンテージ means 'percentage', whereas the shorter form パーセント is much more common when expressing specific values.
How do you pronounce it?
pāsentēji
Did you know?
- While パーセント is the standard, you will often see the symbol % read as パーセント but also written in traditional texts using the kanji 割 to represent a tenth or ten percent.
- The word パーセンテージ is a direct phonetic transplant from the English 'percentage'. Unlike many other Japanese mathematical terms which have Chinese roots, this specific term relies entirely on Western loanwords.
- Because パーセンテージ is a Katakana loanword, it follows Japanese phonetic rules, which adds an extra vowel sound to the end of the word. An English speaker might find the extra 'i' sound at the end of 'pāsentēji' unexpected.
Examples in context
- 10％って10 percent
- 50％って50 percent
- 75％って75 percent
- 92％って92 percent
- パーセンテージを計算するのは難しいです。Pāsentēji o keisan suru no wa muzukashii desu.Calculating percentages is difficult.
- グラフにパーセンテージが表示されています。Gurafu ni pāsentēji ga hyōji sarete imasu.The percentages are displayed on the graph.
- パーセンテージの詳細は資料にあります。Pāsentēji no shōsai wa shiryō ni arimasu.The details of the percentages are in the documents.
Example conversation
Kenta and Himari are discussing a business report.
- 健太 Kentaこの表のパーセンテージは正しいですか？kono hyō no pāsentēji wa tadashii desu ka?Are the percentages in this table correct?
- 陽葵 Himariはい、健太さん。すべて計算し直しました。hai, kenta-san. subete keisan shinaoshimashita.Yes, Kenta. I recalculated everything.
- 健太 Kenta助かります。陽葵さんは仕事が早いですね。tasukarimasu. himari-san wa shigoto ga hayai desu ne.That helps. You work fast, Himari.
- 陽葵 Himariありがとうございます。arigatō gozaimasu.Thank you.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry パーセンテージ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries パーセンテージ, CC BY-SA 4.0.
