Borrowed from Latin decima ( “ a tenth ” ) , now particularly via Italian decima . Doublet of decim , decime , and dime .
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35,981 English word records · 45,491 etymology sections in this online subset
PARTIAL ENGLISH COVERAGE · FULL CORPUS REMAINS LOCALNo exact match for “decima” in this partial English subset. That does not mean the full research corpus—or linguistic scholarship—has no record. Check the original dictionary entry ↗
INDEPENDENT SOURCE LIBRARY
More sources for this spelling
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Lewis’s Elementary Latin Dictionary
1890 American Book Company edition; pinned Perseus XML digitizationdecima
This word is outside the curated dossier collection. Here is the dictionary’s etymology, with its language and revision preserved. These claims have not yet passed *SET-U’s graph review.
Borrowed from Spanish décima , from Latin decima ( “ a tenth ” ) . Doublet of decim , decime , and dime .
Borrowed from Latin decima , feminine of decimus .
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Ellipsis of decima pars / hōra .
Borrowed from French décimer , Latin decimāre .
Read the complete entry and references ↗ · Contribute a cited dossier
014
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
adjective · nounexact historical form
decimal
Based on ten or tenths; borrowed through French and Medieval Latin from the Latin family of decem, “ten.”
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounexact historical form
dime
The United States ten-cent coin, named with an older English and French word for a tenth part or tithe.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗verbheadword prefix
decimate
To destroy or reduce drastically; borrowed from a Latin verb built on “tenth” and first used in English for killing every tenth member of a group.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗noun, adjective, pronouncontrarian claim
ten
The inherited English cardinal number, carried through Old English and Germanic from the Indo-European numeral also reflected in Latin decem.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗026
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
●
Latin / Indo-European
decima
a tenth part; tithe
- DATE
- Latin antiquity
- MATCH
- exact historical form
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Present-Day English / Indo-European
decimal
based on ten or tenths; a base-ten number
- DATE
- 1608–today
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Present-Day English / Indo-European
decimate
kill every tenth member historically; later destroy or reduce drastically
- DATE
- 1660–today
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Medieval Latin / Indo-European
decimālis
of a tenth part; of a tithe
- DATE
- Medieval Latin
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Latin / Indo-European
decimāre
take a tenth; select every tenth person, including for punishment
- DATE
- Latin antiquity
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
French / Indo-European
décimal
of tenths; decimal
- DATE
- Early Modern French
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
038
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 4
resolvedestablishedword prefix
Is decimal named after the decimal point?
No. The adjective and noun come from the Latin tenth/ten family; the visible point is part of later notation, not the word’s ancestor.
resolvedestablishedword prefix
Did the decimal noun and adjective enter together?
Merriam-Webster reports the adjective in 1608 and the noun in 1623. These are lexicographic first-use reports, not inspected objects.
resolvedestablishedword prefix
Must decimate mean only kill one in ten?
No. That was its earliest English historical sense, but drastic reduction and destruction have been established since the seventeenth century.
resolvedestablishedword prefix
Is the Roman tenth-member story invented?
No. The Latin and historical punishment sense is real; the error is using etymology to ban later English meanings.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 4
RANK 93GRADE Aranked-word prefix
Decimal is named for tenths, not the point.
The word runs through the tenth-part family to Latin decem “ten.” The decimal point is a notation used by decimals, not the ancestor that named them.
RANK 157GRADE Aranked-word prefix
The one-in-ten origin is real—and the usage scold is still wrong.
English began with the tenth-member punishment sense, then broadened the word within decades. Etymology records change; it does not veto it.
RANK 95GRADE Acontrarian claim
Ten and decimal are cousins, not borrower and source.
English ten is inherited through Germanic; decimal is learned through Latin. Both independently continue the reconstructed Indo-European numeral family.
RANK 140GRADE Aranked reveal
A dime is literally a tenth.
The coin name reuses a medieval tenth-part word from Anglo-French and Latin decima. It sits in the same deep numeral family as decimal, decimate, December, and inherited English ten.
043
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
historical dictionary9 CLAIM LINKS
Decimal — Word History
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
title prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary7 CLAIM LINKS
Decimate — Word History
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
title prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗editorial reference4 CLAIM LINKS
The Original Definition of Decimate
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗053
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
DIRECTLY INSPECTEDprinted book
John Harris’s Lexicon technicum prints DECIMAL in the head phrase DECIMAL Fraction and begins its mathematical definition.
decimal / decimal / 1704
Lexicon technicum: or, an universal English dictionary of arts and sciencesattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
English lexicographic first-use record for decimal as an adjective
decimal / decimal / 1608
Decimal — Word Historyattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
English lexicographic first-use record for decimate
decimate / decimate / 1660
Decimate — Word Historyattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗06
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