Etymograph

English

decuple

Decuple comes from Late Latin decuplus ‘tenfold’, from Latin 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. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEdecuplus2‘tenfold’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600décuple2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500decuple2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1842decuple2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin decem
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English decuple
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1842, Jacob Reese Eckfeldt with William Ewing , A manual of gold and silver coins of all nations: “The gold coin of the law of 1818 is…”.

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 decuple‘ten’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEdecuplusWiktionary, English decuple‘tenfold’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600décupleWiktionary, English decuple
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500decupleWiktionary, English decuple
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1842decupleWiktionary, English decuple. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1842, Jacob Reese Eckfeldt with William Ewing , A manual of gold and silver coins of all nations: “The gold coin of the law of 1818 is…”

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 Tenfold.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “decuple”; 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 / decuple

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