Deka
/ˈdɛkə/noun
A metric prefix meaning ten.
Did you know?Deka comes straight from Ancient Greek δέκα (déka), the same root behind countless number words across Indo-European languages, so this little prefix is part of a very old linguistic spell of counting.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dekm̥
“ten”
Ancient Greek
Greek
δέκα
“ten”
Latin
Latin
decem
“ten”
19th Century
French
déca-
“metric prefix meaning ten”
Modern English
English
deka
“metric prefix meaning ten”