Etymograph

English

decuman

Decuman comes from Latin decumānus ‘of the tenth, and by metonymy, large’, from decem ‘ten’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déḱm̥1‘ten’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dekem1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdecem2‘ten’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdecumānus2‘of the tenth, and by metonymy, large’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1869decuman2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin decem
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English decuman
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1869, The Cathedral: “Looking up suddenly, I found mine eyes / Confronted…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déḱm̥Wiktionary, Latin decem‘ten’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dekemWiktionary, Latin decemreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdecemWiktionary, English decuman‘ten’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdecumānusWiktionary, English decuman‘of the tenth, and by metonymy, large’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1869decumanWiktionary, English decuman. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1869, The Cathedral: “Looking up suddenly, I found mine eyes / Confronted…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ ‘ten’

ten, century, cent, hundred, dick, decade, sen, den, diner, hectare, tenfold, denier, dwt, deca, 48 more

through Latin decem ‘ten’

dozen, dean, decimal, doyen, dicker, deni, 19 more

Today it means

adj Large; chief; applied to an extraordinary billow, supposed by some to be every tenth in sequence.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “decuman”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin decem. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ / decuman

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