Word 36 of 100 · The stress trap
How to pronounce percent
/pəˈsent/ British English
pə·SENT
2 beats (syllables). The strong beat is the second one.
✗ Many people say
PER·cent
✓ Say
pə·SENT
My tip
Stress the end: fifty pə-SENT.
In a sentence
Prices went up ten percent.
Now you say it
- Listen to me two or three times.
- Say it slowly, one beat at a time: pə-SENT.
- Say the sentence at normal speed.
Questions
How do you pronounce percent?
In British English, percent is pronounced /pəˈsent/. Say it like this: pə-SENT. Stress the end: fifty pə-SENT.
How many syllables are in percent?
When you say it, percent has 2 syllables: pə-SENT. The strong beat is the second one, SENT.
More words like this: the stress trap
Practise these sounds
- The schwa, /ə/The small, weak sound in this word. It’s one of the 4 sounds you can practise completely free in my Sound Atlas.
- The strong beat: /e/ as in “bed”Meet this sound and hear it in my Sound Atlas. Free.
- The Sound MapAll 44 sounds of British English, in my voice. Free.
- Pitch Perfect: the Word stress setHear me say it, record yourself, and see your sound under mine. A premium game.
- More gamesFive of my English games are free to play.

Native Phrase Lab
Willowbrook