per centum

[per sen-tuhm]

noun

1. percent.

Word History and Origins

Origin of per centum¹

1555–65; < Latin: literally, by the hundred

Example Sentences

On May 16, 1866, Congress authorized the creation of a new American coin: the five-cent piece composed of copper and “not exceeding twenty-five per centum of nickel.”

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Section seventeen of the original charter provided that twenty-five per centum of the subsidy bonds should be retained by the government until the entire line of the road was completed.

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The mortality in the unvaccinated is between 40 and 50 per centum.

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It never paid us two per centum on its cost, and finally was sold by the trustee, Colonel Davis.

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The amount granted is within the court’s discretion, but generally it is about twenty-five per centum of the husband’s income.

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