ten

ten — number

1. the number that comes after nine and before eleven, used when counting, measurin

1.numberA1
Definition

the number that comes after nine and before eleven, used when counting, measuring, or naming a quantity.

Example

Kian counted to ten in French before starting the game.

count to ten: counting sequence

The novel costs ten dollars at the local bookstore.

Common collocations
  • ten dollars/pounds
  • ten years old
  • ten o'clock
  • ten minutes
  • ten people
  • ten out of ten

Common Mistakes

There are ten peoples in the room.
There are ten people in the room.
'people' is already plural and does not add an 's' after a number.
It is ten pasts eight.
It is ten past eight.
'past' is a preposition, not a plural noun.
Idioms

ten out of ten

idiom

a perfect score, used to praise someone for doing something very well or guessing correctly.

The teacher gave Élise ten out of ten for her science project.

You guessed the answer correctly — ten out of ten for you!

ten to one

idiom

used to say that something is very likely to happen or be true.

Ten to one, Adina will forget her umbrella again.

Ten to one the meeting finishes early on a Friday.

ten out of ten (for something)

idiom

Used to praise someone for doing something very well or correctly.

Maya got ten out of ten for her science project.

I give you ten out of ten for honesty, Diego.

two/ten a penny

idiom

Something that is very common and therefore not special or valuable.

In this city, coffee shops are ten a penny.

Those cheap souvenirs are two a penny at the market.

ten — noun

Word family

  • tenth
    adjectiveA2
  • tenth
    nounA2
  • tenfold
    adjectiveB2
  • tenfold
    adverbB2
  • tens
    nounA2

Synonym discussion

Sense: number/1

'Ten' is the simple cardinal number (ten apples). 'Tenth' is the ordinal form used for position or fractions: the tenth person in line, or a tenth of the pizza. 'Tenfold' means 'ten times as much' — it is more formal and often used with abstract quantities like effort or value: profits increased tenfold. Unlike 'tenfold', which acts as an adjective or adverb, 'tenth' can also be a noun (a tenth of the budget). Choose 'ten' for counting, 'tenth' for ordering or dividing, and 'tenfold' for multiplying by ten.

ten ↗tenfoldtenth ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • ten dollars
  • ten people
  • ten years
  • ten points
  • ten miles
  • ten percent

Phrases

Prepositions

  • ten of
  • ten per
  • ten out of

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicOld EnglishEnglish

'Ten' comes from Old English 'tien' (also 'tēn'), from Proto-Germanic '*tehun', and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root '*déḱm̥', meaning 'ten'. This ancient root is also the source of the Latin 'decem' (giving us 'decimal', 'December') and the Greek 'deka' (giving us 'decade', 'decathlon'). The word has remained remarkably stable in pronunciation and meaning across thousands of years.