A former French monetary unit worth one-tenth of a franc, used before the adoption of the euro.
From French 'décime,' from Latin 'decimus' (tenth). Created during French monetary reforms and remained in circulation for centuries as a small denomination coin.
The decime is why French people sometimes say someone is worth 'not a decime'—it was the smallest common coin, so the phrase literally meant worthless, and the idiom survived long after the coin disappeared from circulation.
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