What it means
درصد (dar sad) means “percent” or “percentage,” expressing a ratio or proportion out of one hundred. It is a native Persian compound built from two Old Iranian elements: در (dar), functioning here as a preposition meaning “in” or “per,” and صد (sad), the Persian word for one hundred. The construction is an exact parallel to the Latin per centum and the English “percent,” all meaning “by the hundred.” درصد is used wherever a percentage appears in Persian, from bank interest rates and tax figures to exam scores and discount signs in shops. A related noun is درصدی (dar sadi), used as an adjective meaning “percentage-based,” as in a percentage point or rate.
How to use it
- نود درصد امتحان رو درست زدم. (Navad darsad emtehân ro dorost zadam.) “I got ninety percent of the exam right.”
- این فروشگاه پنجاه درصد تخفیف داره. (In forushgâh panjâh darsad takhfif dâre.) “This store has a fifty percent discount.”
- مالیات بیست درصد از حقوق کم میشه. (Mâliyât bist darsad az hoqoq kam mishe.) “Twenty percent of the salary is deducted as tax.”
- صد درصد مطمئنم. (Sad darsad motma’en-am.) “I am one hundred percent sure.”
Cultural note
درصد appears constantly in Iranian public life. Bank advertisements quote annual interest rates in درصد, government statistics on inflation are reported in درصد, and the national university entrance exam, the Konkur, ranks applicants by درصد scores that determine which universities and fields they can access. The phrase صد درصد (sad darsad, one hundred percent) has also become a colloquial intensifier in spoken Persian, used the way English speakers might say “absolutely” or “totally,” showing how a mathematical term can embed itself in everyday speech.