The Collaborative International Dictionary
Per \Per\, prep. [L. Cf. Far, For-, Pardon, and cf. Par, prep.] Through; by means of; through the agency of; by; for; for each; as, per annum; per capita, by heads, or according to individuals; per curiam, by the court; per se, by itself, of itself. Per is also sometimes used with English words.
Per annum, by the year; in each successive year; annually.
Per cent, Per centum, by the hundred; in the hundred; -- used esp. of proportions of ingredients, rate or amount of interest, and the like; commonly used in the shortened form per cent.
Per diem, by the day. [For other phrases from the Latin, see Quotations, Phrases, etc., from Foreign Languages, in the Supplement.]
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of percent English)
Usage examples of "per cent".
The number seems to have jumped by 15 per cent between 1977 and 1988.
That's damn near twenty per cent of them willing to sell us out at the drop of a hat!