zece (Romanian)
Where does "zece" come from?
The Romanian word 'zece' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥, the ancient ancestor for the number ten in many languages. It evolved through the Latin 'decem' before stabilizing into its current form in Romanian. This connection highlights the shared linguistic heritage that links Romanian to other diverse languages across history.
Full etymology tree
- zece (Romanian), 'ten'
- inherited decem (Latin), 'ten; 10'
- inherited *dekem (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *déḱm̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'ten'
- inherited *dekem (Proto-Italic)
- inherited decem (Latin), 'ten; 10'
Ancestors
- decem (Latin)
- *déḱm̥ (Proto-Indo-European)
Descendants and derived words
- zecelea (Romanian)
- zecime (Romanian)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris