Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
PERCENT
percentage, percent, per centum, pct
(noun) a proportion in relation to a whole (which is usually the amount per hundred)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adverb
percent (not comparable)
For every hundred (used with preceding numeral to form a noun phrase expressing a proportion). [from 16th c.]
Usage notes
• A percentage is often denoted by the character %.
• The difference of two percentages is measured by percentage point, not by percent.
Noun
percent (plural percent or percents)
A percentage, a proportion (especially per hundred).
One part per hundred; one percent. [from 19th c.]
Prepositional phrase
percent
Per hundred.
Usage notes
• Percent/per cent originated as a shortening of the Latin phrase per centum, “per hundred”, and historically the use of the word as a noun (as in “half a percent” or “percents”) was regarded as an error, though such use has now become so common that it is recognized by all other major dictionaries, and a few treat the word as being only a noun. Of those which recognize non-nounal uses, most label it an adverb and many also label it an adjective though it does not meet tests of adjectivity.
Source: Wiktionary
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
3 July 2025
SENSE
(noun) the faculty through which the external world is apprehended; “in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing”
Coffee Trivia