Editing Percentage (section)

==Percent sign==
{{main|Percent sign}}
[[Image:Unicode 0x0025.svg|thumb|upright|A percent sign]]
The term "percent" is derived from the Latin ''per centum'', meaning "hundred" or "by the hundred".<ref>American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed. (1992) Houghton Mifflin</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of PERCENT|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/percent|access-date=28 August 2020|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> 
The [[percentage sign|sign for "percent"]] evolved by gradual contraction of the [[Italian language|Italian]] term ''per cento'', meaning "for a hundred". The "per" was often abbreviated as "p."—eventually disappeared entirely. The "cento" was contracted to two circles separated by a horizontal line, from which the modern "%" symbol is derived.<ref>Smith p. 250</ref>