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ten.

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

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

num/tɛn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰɛn]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/tɪn/pin-pen-merger/ten/Australia, New-Zealand

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

Where this word comes from

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.

noun/tɛn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰɛn]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/tɪn/pin-pen-merger/ten/Australia, New-Zealand

  1. A set or group with ten elements.

    countable · uncountable
    We divided the chocolates into tens to hand out to Hallowe'en visitors.

  2. An inexact quantity, typically understood to be between 20 and 100.

    countable · in-plural · uncountable
    Our houses are tens of meters apart, so we don't have to worry about noise from our neighbours.
    tens of thousands of voters

  3. A card in a given suit with a value of ten.

    countable

  4. A denomination of currency, such as a banknote, with a value of ten units.

    countable
    Can you give me two tens for this twenty?

  5. A perfect specimen, (particularly) a physically attractive person.

    US · countable · slang

  6. A high level of intensity.

    US · countable · slang

  7. The act of rowing ten strokes flat out.

    countable
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.