Etymograph

English

ten

Ten comes from Middle English ten, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déḱm̥1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tehun1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tehun1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tīen1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ten1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1905ten1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English ten
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., The Sayings of Slid (whose Soul is by the Sea): “There is a melody upon the Earth as though…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déḱm̥Wiktionary, English tenreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tehunWiktionary, English tenreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tehunWiktionary, English tenreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tīenWiktionary, English ten
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tenWiktionary, English ten
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1905tenWiktionary, English ten. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., The Sayings of Slid (whose Soul is by the Sea): “There is a melody upon the Earth as though…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with ten, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥

  • century ← centurie ← centurie ← centuria ← centum
  • hundred ← *hundaradą ← *hundą ← *ḱm̥tóm ← *déḱm̥t
  • dick ← *deg ← *deg ← *dekam
  • decade ← decādem ← δεκάς ← δέκα ← *dékə
  • dean ← den ← deen ← deien ← decānus
  • cent ← centum ← *kəntom ← *ḱm̥tóm
  • dozen ← dozaine ← doze ← *dōdeci ← duodecim
  • diner ← *dīnārius ← dēnārius ← dēnus ← dec(em)
  • den ← denier ← denarius ← dēnus ← dec(em)
  • sen ← cent ← cent ← centum ← *kəntom
  • decimal ← decimalis ← decimus ← decem ← *dekem
  • hectare ← ἑκατόν ← *hekətón ← *ḱm̥tóm ← *déḱm̥t

58 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

num The number occurring after nine and before eleven, represented in Arabic numerals (base ten) as 10 and in Roman numerals as X.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ten”. 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 / ten