Today’s word, decimate, was suggested by my sister. She is concerned it is too often misused; that people use decimated to describe something that is completely or significantly destroyed. She believes it should only be used to mean something that is reduced by 10%.

Unfortunately for my sister she is only half right. The etymology certainly supports her interpretation. Deci means tenth like deciliter (1/10 of a liter). And decimate does mean to reduce by 10%. In fact decimate originally meant to kill every tenth person. The Roman’s used decimation to punish mutinous legions of their army. But today it can mean to reduce by 10% or more broadly to significantly reduce in size or to damage a significant portion.

Sorry Kell. I looked it up in several sources and they all included the broader definition.