kymmenen (Finnish)

Where does "kymmenen" come from?

The Finnish word 'kymmenen' traces its origins to the Proto-Finnic term *kümmen and possibly the deeper Proto-Finno-Permic root *küme-ne. While the original singular form was 'kymmen', it was eventually replaced by the genitive form to match the pattern of other numbers like 'yhdeksän'. This word shares a common ancestry with terms like the Erzya 'кемень', highlighting its deep roots within the Finno-Ugric language family.

Full etymology tree

• kymmenen (Finnish), 'ten'
  • inherited kymmen (Finnish), 'ten'
    • inherited *kümmen (Proto-Finnic), 'ten'
      • inherited *küme-ne (Proto-Finno-Permic)
  • influence kahdeksan (Finnish), 'eight'
  • influence yhdeksän (Finnish), 'nine'

Ancestors

• *kümmen (Proto-Finnic)

Cognates and doublets

• кемень (Erzya)

Descendants and derived words

• aamukymmenen (Finnish)
• iltakymmenen (Finnish)
• kahdeksankymmentä (Finnish)
• kaksikymmentä (Finnish)
• kolmekymmentä (Finnish)
• kolmisenkymmentä (Finnish)
• kuusikymmentä (Finnish)
• kybä (Finnish)
• kymmenentuhatta (Finnish)
• kymmenenvuotias (Finnish)
• kymmenesti (Finnish)
• kymmenikkö (Finnish)

Updated July 2026

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