Etymology: Various formations from the cardinal numeral ten adj., n., and adv., at earlier and later stages of its history. The early forms represent Indo-European *dekmtos (Greek δέκατος , Lithuanian deszim̃tas , Old Church Slavonic desjātyĭ ) simply, or with assimilation to the form of the cardinal; the later are new formations on ten , with the suffix -th , -d , -t , ablaut forms of pre-Germanic -tos . Like the other ordinals, only of the weak declension: in Old English with singular masculine -a , feminine and neuter -e , plural -an . The form-groups are: α. Old English (Anglian) *teogoða , -eða , -ða (Northumbrian teig(e)ða , teiða ), corresponding to Old Frisian tegotha , -atho , -etha , Old Saxon tegotho , -atho (Middle Low German tegede , teigede , Low German tegede , tegde ), going back through *tegūþo , to Old Germanic *tegunþo- . Its modern representation is tithe n.¹ β. The ordinary Old English (West Saxon) téoða (early Middle English tēþe ), apparently < *teoh(e)ða , going back through *tehūþo , to *tehunþo- , with h in place of g under the influence of the cardinal *tehun . This form is found only in English; it survived dialectally to the 16th cent. as tēthe . γ. Early Middle English tēnde (later tend , teind ), appearing in Ormin c1200, but probably existing earlier, also in Kentish in the Ayenbite 1340. It corresponds in consonants to Old Frisian tîanda , tîenda (Dutch tiende ), Old Saxon tehando , Old High German zehanto ; Gothic taihunda , Norse tíonde , tíunde . δ. Early Middle English tenðe (tyenðe , teonðe ), tenþe , now tenth adj. and n. a new formation < ten with suffix -th suffix². ε. Middle English tent, also < ten, with suffix -t. Now dialect, chiefly northern and north midland.The etymological history of some of the forms (as in other numerals) presents points of which the explanations are more or less conjectural. The direct Old Germanic representation of Indo-European *dekmˈtos was by Verner's Law *tegunđos; with this the Gothic taihunda, Old Saxon tehando, Old High German zehanto, agree, except in having h for g, apparently under the influence of the cardinal *tehun, -an. The Old Germanic *tegunþo-, whence Old Saxon and Old Frisian tegotho, -a, Old Anglian te(o)goþa, implies a pre-Germanic *ˈdekmtos, with shifted stress (implied also in some other ordinals). Assimilation of this form also to the cardinal would give *tehunþo-, whence *tehūþa, teoh(o)ða, téoða. The history of tēnde is more uncertain: the four ordinals, sefende, eȝtende, neȝende, tēnde, in Middle English, Northern and Kentish, form a group of which only the first is known in Old English, represented by siofunda, seofonda, in the Lindisfarne and Rushworth glosses. Siofunda, like Gothic *sibunda, Old Saxon siƀundo, Old High German sibunto, represents an Old Germanic *siƀunđo-, Indo-European sep(t)mˈtos. Old English nigenda (a1066), Old Saxon nigundo, Old High German niunto, Gothic niunda, had probably a parallel history. The Middle English ehtende appears to have been conformed in its ending to sefende; and tende, from its late appearance, was probably formed < tēn on the same model. Ten-th has the suffix which in Old English appears in feorða, seofoða, eahtoða, nigoða, teogeða, and which has now been extended to all the ordinals < fourth onward. On the other hand, ten-t has the form of the suffix which was regular in Old English fifta (Old Saxon and Old Frisian fīfto, -ta, Old High German fimfto, Gothic fimfta, Old Germanic *fimfto-), and sixta (Old Saxon and Old High German sehsto, Gothic saihsta, Germanic seχsto-), which in Old English was also used in enlefta (ellefta) and twelfta, and in Northern and North-Midland dialects has since been extended to all the ordinals fromfourt to hundert.

Etymology: < tenth adj. and n.