百分之四十 (bǎi fēn zhī sì shí) — forty percent

Definition

Use 百分之四十 when giving a percentage, with 百分之 + [number] meaning '[number] percent'. In conversation you can often drop 百分之 and just say 四十 percent.

numeral
forty percent

Examples

  • 百分之四十。
    Zhè ge chǎn pǐn de hé gé lǜ shì bǎi fēn zhī sì shí.
    The pass rate of this product is forty percent.
  • 百分之四十。
    Wǒ men gōng sī yǒu bǎi fēn zhī sì shí de yuán gōng shì nǚ xìng.
    Forty percent of our company's employees are women.
  • 百分之四十。
    Tā zhī wán chéng le bǎi fēn zhī sì shí de rèn wu.
    He only completed forty percent of the task.

Origin

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
一一yī
Sound part声符shēngfú
白
白bái百bǎi
Same sound today

百 combines 一, which carries the number meaning, with 白, which provides the sound.

Open 百 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

分 pairs 八 (to separate) with 刀 (knife), showing something cut apart with a knife.

Open 分 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape pairs 止, a foot, with 一, a beginning place, and means to go.

Open 之 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

Open 四 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The early shape 十 was mostly a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a dot, and later gained a horizontal stroke to form a cross. For the number ten, it marked the next digit above one.

Open 十 →

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