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START / NODE 186Present-Day English1608–today
decimal
Based on ten or tenths; borrowed through French and Medieval Latin from the Latin family of decem, “ten.”
“A decimal is not named for the dot. The word means “of tenths” and belongs to the same ten-family as decimate and December.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishdecimal
based on ten or tenths; a base-ten number
↑GO DEEPER
French · Early Modern Frenchdécimalof tenths; decimal
- SOUND CHANGE
- French décimal is adapted into English as decimal.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The “of tenths/base ten” meaning remains transparent.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- CHRONOLOGY
- English adjective reported from 1608; noun from 1623.
THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
Crossing into a starred form changes the evidence class. The interface marks that crossing, preserves confidence, and never manufactures the next root to make the picture look complete.