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The history of decussate leads us back to the intersection of decem, a word meaning "ten," and ass-, a form that refers to a unit of weight and specifically to a copper coin cut to a half-ounce. In the Roman numeral system the number 10 is represented by X, an intersection of two lines. A man named Sir Thomas Browne coined decussate in the 17th century to discuss the crossing fibers that make up human anatomy-for instance, skin tissue. The word continues to be found primarily in scientific contexts today.
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“Decussate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decussate. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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decussate
verb
di-ˈkəs-ˌāt
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