ten

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ten/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ten, inherited from Old English tēn, Mercian, West Saxon tīen,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *tehun,^[2][5] the source also of Old Saxon tehan, Dutch tien, German zehn, Old Norse tíu and Gothic taíhun.^[2][6][3] It is from Proto-Indo-European *dekm- (“ten”),^[2][4][5] the source also of Latin decem, Greek δέκα (déka) and Sanskrit dáśa.^[5][7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

West Saxon tīen: about 725, in Beowulf,^[3] and the OED's first quotation is from about 888.^[8] The Middle English spelling tenn is from 1311.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Ten is used vaguely or as a hyperbole for a large number, as in ten times, from 1388.^[8][2] As the hour, ten o'clock, it is from about 1386^[8] or 1712.^[2] The biblical rules given to Moses have been the Ten Commandments since the Middle Ages.^[9] The Texan ten-gallon hat is from 1919, and the ten-foot pole you would not touch something with is from 1909, earlier a forty-foot pole.^[2] Ten out of ten, “perfect”, comes from school tests with ten questions.^[9] Tenfold is from before 1200, from Old English tienfeald.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – tīen, in Beowulf.^[3]
• before 1200 – tenfold.^[3]
• 1311 – the spelling tenn.^[3]
• 1388 – a large number, hyperbolically.^[8]
• 1909 – ten-foot pole.^[2]
• 1919 – ten-gallon hat.^[2]

Modern meaning

Number

1. The cardinal number equal to nine plus one, written 10.
2. A set of ten people or things.
3. Ten o'clock.

Word family

• five-and-ten
• tenpenny
• tenpins
• ten-four
• tenner
• tenpounder
• ten-speed
• ten-spot

Related words

• tenth
• tenfold
• tithe
• -teen
• -ty
• decimal
• decade
• dime

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press