zehn (German)

Where does "zehn" come from?

The German word 'zehn' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥, the common ancestor for the word 'ten' across many languages. It evolved through Proto-Germanic as *tehun and Old High German as zehan before settling into its modern form. This ancient numerical root highlights a shared linguistic heritage connecting German directly to English and other Germanic languages.

Full etymology tree

• zehn (German), 'ten (numerical value represented in Arabic numerals as 10)'
  • inherited zehen (Middle High German)
    • inherited zehan (Old High German), 'ten'
      • derived *tehan (Pre-Old High German)
        • inherited *tehun (Proto-Germanic), 'ten'
          • inherited *déḱm̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'ten'
            • contraction *ḱm̥t- (Proto-Indo-European)
              • inherited *ḱómt (Proto-Indo-European)
        • inherited *tehunt (Proto-Germanic)
          • inherited *déḱm̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'ten'
            • contraction *ḱm̥t- (Proto-Indo-European)
              • inherited *ḱómt (Proto-Indo-European)

Ancestors

• zehan (Old High German)
• *tehun (Proto-Germanic)
• *déḱm̥ (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

• tien (Dutch)
• ten (English)
• 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌿𐌽 (Gothic)
• teihn (Low German)

Descendants and derived words

• Zehn (German)
• zehneckig (German)
• Zehner (German)
• zehnfach (German)
• zehntägig (German)
• zehnte (German)
• Zehntel (German)

Updated July 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris