Skip to the word

Added 7 October 2026

ten

/tɛn/ noun

In Latin: decem Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about ten at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

NATO, ICAO, ITU & IMO radiotelephony code for 10, used only with o'clock to indicate direction.

symbol

ISO 639-3 language code for Tama (Colombia).

numeral

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

noun

A set or group with ten elements.
We divided the chocolates into tens to hand out to Hallowe'en visitors.
An inexact quantity, typically understood to be between 20 and 100.
Our houses are tens of meters apart, so we don't have to worry about noise from our neighbours.
A card in a given suit with a value of ten.

Origin

PIE word *déḱm̥ From Middle English ten, tene, from Old English tīen, from Proto-West Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥. Cognate with Scots ten, tene (“ten”), West Frisian tsien (“ten”), Saterland Frisian tjoon (“ten”), North Frisian tiin (“ten”). See also teen.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word