Etymology

decimate

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Today it means: To kill one-tenth of (a group), (historical, specifically) as a military punishment in the Roman army selected by lot, usually carried out by the surviving soldiers. Full definition →

Latin decimātus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromdecimatus“tithing area; tithing rights”
  2. Latin · borrowed fromdecimātus
  3. English todaydecimate

The verb is first attested in 1591, the noun in 1641; borrowed from Latin decimātus, perfect passive participle of decimō (“to kill one tenth; to tithe”) (see, from -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from decimus (“tenth”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). As a noun, via Latin decimatus (“tithing area; tithing rights”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.