An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

Prefix used in the metric system to mean on-tenth.

From Fr. déci-, from L. decimus "tenth," from decem "ten," cf. Av. dasa "ten," Mod.Pers. dah "ten," Gk. deka, Skt. dasa, PIE *dekm (Dan. ti, Du. tien, Ger. zehn, E. ten, Fr. dix).

Desi-, from Fr. déci-, as above.