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PlainSpell

decimal

/ˈdɛs.ɪ.məl/adjective, noun, verb

decimal is spelled D-E-C-I-M-A-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, decimal means “Concerning numbers expressed in decimal or mathematical calculations performed using decimal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in decimal?

Letters7: D-E-C-I-M-A-L
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 20,101st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is decimal?

Decimal appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce decimal?

  • UK /ˈdɛs.ɪ.məl/
  • US /ˈdɛs.ɪ.məl/
  • US /ˈdɛs.ə.məl/

Decimal has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-decimal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with decimal?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as decimal (/ɛsɪməl/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: medical, declaim, camelid.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of decimal

  • decimals plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • decimaling US, participle, present
  • decimalling UK, participle, present
  • decimaled US, participle, past
  • decimalled UK, participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does decimal mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Concerning numbers expressed in decimal or mathematical calculations performed using decimal.

noun

  1. 1

    A number expressed in the base-ten system, (particularly) a fractional numeral written in this system.

    What is ⁷⁄₂₃ as a decimal?

  2. 2

    informalThe decimal system itself.

  3. 3

    informalA decimal place.

    Pi has a value of 3.142, to three decimals.

  4. 4

    informalA decimal point.

  5. 5

    Alternative spelling of dismil.

verb

  1. 1

    To represent with numbers after a decimal point.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Decimal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdécimal (concerning numbers expressed in decimal or…), système décimal (number system)
Germandezimal (concerning numbers expressed in decimal or…), Dezimalsystem, Zehnersystem (number system)
Portuguesedecimal (concerning numbers expressed in decimal or…)
Spanishdecimal (concerning numbers expressed in decimal or…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does decimal come from?

Borrowed from Late Latin, Medieval Latin decimalis, from Latin decimus, from decem (“ten”) + adjective suffix -alis.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after decimal