per

"Per" is a small preposition with a few very common jobs. Most often, it means "for each," like when you talk about the price per apple, meaning the cost for every single apple. It is also used for rates, like miles per hour, and in formal phrases such as "as per his instructions," which means according to what he told us. It is a useful word for showing how one amount relates to another.

Think of it as a way to break things down unit by unit. If you earn $20 per hour, that is how much money you get for every 60 minutes you work. It often appears in formal writing, business messages, and anything involving numbers or measurement.

The word "per" is a Latin preposition originally meaning "through" or "by." While its original sense of "moving through" isn't as common in everyday English today, it has evolved into several important meanings primarily relating to rates, ratios, and specific instructions. Most often, you'll encounter "per" signifying for each or in relation to.

Imagine a baker selling cookies for $2 per cookie—that means each individual cookie costs two dollars. This is its most common usage: expressing a quantity or rate in connection with one unit of something else. You'll see it frequently when discussing prices (cost per item), speed (miles per hour), measurements (inches per year), and financial periods (10% interest per annum).

However, "per" isn't limited to just numbers. It is also used in a formal way to indicate "according to" or "in accordance with." For example, "As per your request..." means according to what you asked for. This usage is common in business correspondence and legal documents. You might also hear it in specialized Latin phrases that have entered English, such as "per capita," meaning "for each person," or "per se," meaning "by itself."

Sometimes, "per" can even subtly suggest a specific method or standard. If a technician says a task was performed "per protocol," they mean it was done exactly as the rules dictated.

So, whether you're calculating costs, giving formal instructions, or describing rates and ratios, "per" is a versatile tool that helps us understand how things relate to each other—one unit at a time.