[per.cent] adv [earlier per cent, fr. per + L centum hundred--more at hundred] (1568): in the hundred: of each hundred
[2]percent n, pl percent or percents (1667) 1 pl percent a: one part in a hundred b: percentage "a large ~ of his income"
2. percents pl, Brit: securities bearing a specified rate of interest [3]percent adj (1888) 1: reckoned on the basis of a whole divided into one hundred parts
2: paying interest at a specified percent