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The Gruesome Origin Of The Word “Decimate”
A rich history hiding in ten letters
Many people use the word decimate wrong. People throw around decimate and decimation to describe great damage or destruction without any thought to the history of the word itself. Decimate is still commonly used in modern vernacular, but it is rarely used properly. If you’ve ever uttered the word decimate to describe a big victory or a destructive result, you are not alone. In fact, according to Merriam-Webster, those usages of the word decimate come in third and fourth.
- 3 a: to reduce drastically especially in number
- 3 b: to cause great destruction or harm to
The actual definition of decimate is to select every tenth man from a group and kill them. If that sounds horrifying, you are right. It is horrifying. The practice of decimation was used in ancient armies as a form of collective punishment. Merriam-Webster hasn’t forgotten the origins of the word decimation, even if you have.
- 1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
