Percent sign

Two small circles either side of a diagonal stroke, meaning 'per hundred'.

Also known as: Per cent sign, Percentage symbol

MathematicalScientificKeyboard & punctuationStandard profile

Meanings

The percent sign expresses a proportion out of one hundred. Its form is generally traced to a contracted writing of the Italian 'per cento'.

Common modern usageVerified fact
Expresses a number as a proportion of one hundred, as in 50%, meaning half.
Contexts: Mathematics
Historically documentedDocumented interpretation
Developed from a contracted handwritten form of the Italian 'per cento', with the abbreviation gradually collapsing into the modern sign.
15th century onward · Contexts: Mathematics

A diagonal stroke with a small circle at the upper left and another at the lower right.

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is defined by a current official standard.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is defined by a current official standard.

Percent sign
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-30
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity and origin summary, not for contested detail or exact dates.
Unicode Code Chart: Basic Latin (U+0000–U+007F)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-07-30
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in use.

Last reviewed 2026-07-30