hendeca-

Hendeca- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “eleven.” It is occasionally used in technical terms, especially in mathematics.

Hendeca- comes from the Greek héndeka, meaning “eleven.” The Greek héndeka, in turn, is ultimately a combination of the Greek hén, meaning “one,” and  déka, meaning “ten.”

Although hén is the Ancient Greek word for “one,” the combining form mono-, from Greek mónos, “alone” or “only,” is typically used to signify “one” in English. Déka similarly gives us the combining form deca-. Find out more about mono- and deca- at our Words That Use articles for each.

What are variants of hendeca-?

When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, hendeca- becomes hendec-, as in hendecarchy.

One example of a term that features the combining form hendeca- is hendecahedron, “a solid figure having 11 faces.”

The form hendeca- means “eleven,” as we have seen. So, what about the -hedron part of the word? That’s right, it means “face,” from the Greek -edron. So, hendecahedron literally translates to “eleven faces.”

What are some words that use the combining form hendeca-?

• hendecasyllable
• hendecasyllabic (using the equivalent form of hendeca- in Greek)

What are some other forms that hendeca- may be commonly confused with?

• deca-
• hect-
• hecto-
• hemi-
• hepta-
• hetero-

The combining form -gon means “angle” and is used to name shapes. With this in mind, what kind of shape is a hendecagon?