| 词源 |
decimate. After any mutiny in the Roman army, or any cow- ardice, the standard punishment was to take one man by lot out of each of the 10-man squads and have his fellow squad mem- bers kill him. From this disciplinary measure came the word decimare (from the Latin decem, 10, meaning “to kill one in 10”) that became the English decimate. Decimate strictly means to reduce a military force by [[TN]], but through careless usage has come to mean to destroy a large part of any population, even to obliterate it. |