decalogue means the Ten Commandments. It carries an Arena rating of 1632, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, decalogue ranks #260 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,089 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #2,874 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,423 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
decalogue is pronounced /ˈdɛkəlɒɡ/.
Why “decalogue” is a great word
DECALOGUE — [Noun] The Ten Commandments, or any fundamental set of authoritative rules. From the Ancient Greek δέκα (déka, "ten") + λόγος (lógos, "word, statement"), via Latin decalogus and Middle French Décalogue; first attested in English in the late 14th century. Unlike "commandment" (a single, specific divine order) or "code" (a broad, systematic collection of laws), a decalogue is the entire, foundational set—concise, canonical, and complete in its ten-ness. It is the two tablets of stone, the stark numerals at the head of a manifesto, the immutable shortlist by which a society measures its soul; these are the few words meant to hold back the entropy of the human heart.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French Décalogue, from Latin decalogus, from Ancient Greek δεκάλογος (dekálogos, from δέκα (déka, “ten”) + λόγος (lógos, “statement”)). Equivalent to deca- + -logue.
name
- The Ten Commandments.
noun
- Any set of rules that have the weight of authority
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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