Etymograph

English

decury

Decury comes from Latin decuria ‘a group of ten men (or soldiers)’, and goes back to 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 CEdecuria2‘a group of ten men (or soldiers)’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1760decury2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin decem
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English decury
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1760, Robert Kerr, A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels: “If one, two, or more of a decury proceed…”.

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 decury‘ten’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdecuriaWiktionary, English decury‘a group of ten men (or soldiers)’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1760decuryWiktionary, English decury. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1760, Robert Kerr, A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels: “If one, two, or more of a decury proceed…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ ‘ten’

ten, cent, hundred, dick, sen, decade, den, diner, hectare, tenfold, denier, dwt, deca, 49 more

through Latin decem ‘ten’

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

through Latin decuria ‘a group of ten men (or soldiers)’

dicker

Today it means

noun A group of ten men under the command of a decurion.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “decury”; 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 / decury

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