ten
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: tĕn
ipa: /tɛn/
ipa: [tʰɛn]
ipa: /tɪn/
rhymes: -ɛn
rhymes: (pin–pen merger) -ɪn
homophone: tin (pin–pen merger)
Forms: form: tens
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: We divided the chocolates into tens to hand out to Hallowe'en visitors.
text: They can readily state the number of tens in a hundred. But somehow they do not have a full appreciation of the "tenness" of our system and how the system is structured.
ref: 1958 May 23, Carolyn J. Ingham, Joseph N. Payne, “An eighth-grade unit on number systems”, in The Mathematics Teacher, volume 51, number 5, page 392:
text: Understanding that numbers are composed of tens and ones is an important foundational concept, setting the stage for work with larger numbers.
ref: (Can we date this quote?), “What is a Ten Frame and why is it a useful tool for developing early number relationships and fact fluency?”, in Rhodes University, page 1:
glosses: A set or group with ten elements.
examples: text: Our houses are tens of meters apart, so we don't have to worry about noise from our neighbours.
text: tens of thousands of voters
text: No trees have grown on the windswept Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean for tens of thousands of years — just shrubs and other low-lying vegetation. That’s why a recent arboreal discovery nearly 20 feet (6 meters) beneath the ground caught researchers’ attention.
ref: 2024 September 27, Katie Hunt, “Scientists discover hidden ancient forest on treeless island”, in CNN:
glosses: An inexact quantity, typically understood to be between 20 and 100.
topics: card-games
games
glosses: A card in a given suit with a value of ten.
examples: text: Can you give me two tens for this twenty?
synonyms: tenner
glosses: A denomination of currency, such as a banknote, with a value of ten units.
examples: text: I was in the Woodley Park–Zoo in D.C. and mom and sister were waiting to see the pandas, so me and my pops broke away to check out the monkey house. Well, there was a beautiful teacher, I mean we're talking a ten, she was blond, had a low-cut dress on, just gorgeous. And she has about eight or nine students and she's pointing out all the different monkeys. And me and my dad noticed this huge orangutan kind of fiddling with himself. And on close [censored] And we kept checking it out and he was looking directly at the teacher. Well, a couple minutes passed by [censored] he proceeds to [censored] that's when the teacher noticed and, you know, took the kids away very hurriedly. But I looked at my dad and said, you know, they're so much like us.
ref: 2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Chris, 22:22 from the start, in Penn Radio:
text: An Office Ten is a person who falls somewhere between average to mildly good-looking in the world at large but skyrockets to wildly attractive within the confines of an open-concept desk plan.
ref: 2023 September 11, Danielle Cohen, “Why Am I Attracted to My Coworker? Meet ‘The Office Ten’”, in New York Magazine:
synonyms: dime piece
glosses: A perfect specimen, (particularly) a physically attractive person.
examples: text: "Intensities in 10 Cities"
ref: 1981 March 2, Intensities in 10 Cities, performed by Ted Nugent:
text: ...
Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner): "Why don't you just make ten louder, and make ten be the top number?"
Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest): "These go to eleven."
ref: 1984 March 2, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner (writers), This is Spinal Tap:
text: ...
Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers): "You guys kick ass. You're Double Live Gonzo. Intensities in 10 Cities. Live at Budokan."
ref: 1992 February 14, Mike Myers, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Wayne's World (film):
glosses: A high level of intensity.
examples: text: At the 1,000-metres post we gave a ten, which raised our lead to 1⅔ lengths; the Belgians were rowing hard, but one felt that they still had plenty of spurting power.
ref: 1911, The Cambridge Review, volume 32, page 486:
text: Morris gave a ten, and an unbelievable surge ran through the boat, one that I had never felt before.
ref: 1982, Stanley French, Aspects of Downing history, page 105:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
rowing
sports
glosses: The act of rowing ten strokes flat out.
Coordinate terms: sense: Previous
word: nine
sense: Next
word: eleven
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: a hundred and ten percent
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: at ten and two
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: Bayard of ten toes
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: card of ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: catch the ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: count to ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: feel ten feet tall
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: five-and-ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: five and ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: five will get you ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: four score and ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: grade ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: handbags at ten paces
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: hang ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: high ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: nine times out of ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: not touch something with a ten-foot pole
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: not touch with a ten-foot pole
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: number ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: starter for ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: take ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten a penny
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten bagger
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-bagger
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-ball
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-cent
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-cent store
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-cent tour
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-cent word
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-code
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: Ten Commandments
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-dollar word
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-eighty
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten foot
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-footer
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten foot pole
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-for
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten for the big guy
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-four
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-gallon hat
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-hut
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-in-one
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-lined June beetle
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: Ten Mile Bank
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten million
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: tenner
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten o'clock
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-penny nail
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten penny nail
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-percenter
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten piece
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-pin
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-pin bowling
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten points from Gryffindor
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten points to Gryffindor
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: tenpounder
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-pounder
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten pound pom
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten pound Pom
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-pound tourist
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten pound tourist
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten sack
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: tens across the board
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-second car
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-second rule
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-shun
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-speed
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-spot
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-strike
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-strip
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten thousand
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-thousandth
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten toes down
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten to one
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten to the dozen
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten ways from Sunday
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten ways to Sunday
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-wheeler
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten will get you twenty
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: ten-year series
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: three score and ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: top ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: two and ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: two upon ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: upper ten
sense: Terms derived from the numeral or noun ten
word: upper ten thousand
Related terms: word: tenfold
word: tenth
word: deca-
word: deka-
word: decadal
word: decenary
sense: a set of 10 items
word: decimate
sense: a set of 10 items
word: decimal
sense: a set of 10 items
word: decaplet
sense: a set of 10 items
english: of babies, musical notes, or baryons
translation: of babies, musical notes, or baryons
word: decuplet
sense: containing 10 items
word: decenary
sense: related to base-10 numeration
word: decimal
sense: period of 10 months
word: decimestrial
sense: period of 10 years
word: decade and decennium
sense: related to a 10-year period
word: decadal and decennial
sense: 10-year anniversary
word: decennial
sense: rule by 10 people
word: decemvirate
sense: commander of 10 soldiers
word: decener
sense: chief of 10 men in early English law
word: tithingman
sense: payment or collection of a 10% tax
word: tithe