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. (lb en law US dated) percent
WordNet
n. a proportion multiplied by 100 [syn: percentage, percent, pct]
Usage examples of "per centum".
The assignats lose forty per centum, and the ascertained deficit for 1792 is four hundred millions.
As Gomnol pointed out, you humans didn't know your own minds and bodies for ninetynine pip niner per centum of your racial history, either!
At least fifty per centum of them had to be thus destroyed —.
At least fifty per centum of them had to be thus destroyed –.