Per

How to spell per

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce per

What does per mean?

1. prepositionFor each; expressing a rate or proportion against a unit.
2. prepositionIn accordance with; following (something stated or instructed).

Per in a sentence

• The speed limit on that road is fifty miles per hour.

• The parts were assembled as per the manufacturer's instructions.

• The caterer charged twelve pounds per guest.

• The refund was processed as per our agreement.

Where does per come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes straight from the Latin preposition per, which carried a cluster of related meanings: 'through', 'by means of', and 'for each'. In classical Latin it described motion through something or the agent by which an action was accomplished, and it survives unchanged in many borrowed phrases such as per annum 'by the year', per capita 'by each head', and per cent 'by the hundred'. English began using these Latin phrases in legal, commercial, and scholarly writing during the medieval and early modern periods, and the bare per gradually settled into ordinary English as a distributive word meaning 'for each'. The same root sits inside a host of familiar English words where per- works as a prefix meaning 'through' or 'thoroughly', including 'perfect', 'permit', and 'perceive'. Because per is so short and entirely regular in spelling, it almost never troubles writers; its only confusion is with the unrelated prefix 'pre-'.

How the word is built

• per (Latin preposition: through, by, for each)