per annum

English

Alternative forms

• per ann.

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin per annum, English from the 16th century.

Prepositional phrase

per annum

1. In a year.
2. For a year.
   • 1918, International Review of Agricultural Economics, volume 9, page 917:

     Areas of no more than ten acres of crown land may be granted as bee-arms on annual licenses, the rent being one shilling an acre per annum.

Synonyms

• per year, yearly, annually

Translations

in a year

Armenian: տարեկան (hy) (tarekan) Dutch: per jaar Finnish: vuosittain (fi), joka vuosi Urdu: سالانہ (Salanaa)

for each year

Armenian: տարեկան (hy) (tarekan) Czech: ročně (cs) Finnish: vuosittain (fi), vuodessa (fi) French: par an

Latin

Etymology

In post-classical Latin (4th or 5th century) in reference to a sum of money due each year. Already in the 3rd century in the sense of "through the year". From the preposition per (“through; during”) + annum, the accusative singular of annus (“year”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /per ˈan.num/, [pɛr ˈänːʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /per ˈan.num/, [pɛr ˈänːum]

Adverb

per annum (not comparable)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see per,‎ annum; throughout the year
   • 1st century BC or AD, Ovid, Fasti, I, 1f. and III, 111f.; ed. and transl.: Ovid's Fasti with an English translation by Sir James George Frazer, 1959, p. 2f. and p. 128f.:

     Tempera cum causis Latium digesta per annum
     lapsaque sub terras ortaque signa canam.

     The order of the calendar throughout the Latin year, its causes, and the starry signs that set beneath the earth and rise again, of these I'll sing.

     libera currebant et inobservata per annum
     sidera ; constabat sed tamen esse deos.

     The stars ran their courses free and unmarked throughout the year ; yet everybody agreed that they were gods.

2. (proscribed) per annum; per year

See also

• annales
• prō annō