ten

¹ American  

[ten] / tɛn /

noun

1. a cardinal number, nine plus one.

2. a symbol for this number, as 10 or X.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. a playing card with ten pips.

5. Informal. a ten-dollar bill.

   She had two tens and a five in her purse.

6. Also called ten's place.  Mathematics.

   1. (in a mixed number) the position of the second digit to the left of the decimal point.

   2. (in a whole number) the position of the second digit from the right.

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adjective

1. amounting to ten in number.

idioms

1. take ten, to rest from what one is doing, especially for ten minutes.

ten. ² American  

abbreviation

1. tenor.

2. Music. tenuto.

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ten ¹ British  

/ tɛn /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one. It is the base of the decimal number system and the base of the common logarithm See also number

2. a numeral, 10, X, etc, representing this number

3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of ten units, such as a playing card with ten symbols on it

4. Also called: ten o'clock.  ten hours after noon or midnight

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to ten

      ten tigers

   2. ( as pronoun )

      to sell only ten

ten- ² British  

combining form

1. a variant of teno-

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ten More Idioms  

1. see count to ten; not touch with a ten-foot pole.

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Etymology

Origin of ten

before 900; Middle English ten ( e ), tenn ( e ), Old English tēn ( e ), tīen ( e ); cognate with Dutch tien, German zehn, Old Norse tīu, Gothic taihun, Latin decem, Greek déka, Sanskrit daśa

Example Sentences

The Adagio chain, which has ten hotels in the city's La Defense district where the concerts will be held, saw a 400 percent increase in bookings.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

Separate figures suggest that amounts to more than 150,000 tonnes annually – enough to sustain three times the breeding populations of the ten commonest garden species if they relied on it alone all year round.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026

"An electric car contains 80 kg of copper, compared with 20 kg in a conventional one," he notes, while "a wind turbine contains between four and ten tons of copper per megawatt."

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

The trial included ten patients between the ages of 1 and 24 who were treated at five hospitals in China.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and count to ten, trying to get a handle on what I came here to ask her.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam