reckon

English

Alternative forms

  • reckin (dialectal)
  • recken (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian (to pay; arrange, dispose, reckon) and ġerecenian (to explain, recount, relate); both from Proto-Germanic *rekanōną (to count, explain), from Proto-Germanic *rekanaz (swift, ready, prompt), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (to make straight or right).

Cognate with Scots rekkin (to ennumerate, mention, narrate, rehearse, count, calculate, compute), West Frisian rekkenje (to account, tally, calculate, figure), Dutch rekenen (to count, calculate, reckon), Low German rekenen (to reckon), German rechnen (to count, reckon, calculate), Swedish räkna (to count, calculate, reckon), Icelandic reikna (to calculate). See also reck, reach.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɹɛkən/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛkən

Verb

reckon (third-person singular simple present reckons, present participle reckoning, simple past and past participle reckoned)

  1. To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
    I reckoned above two hundred and fifty on the outside of the church. (Can we date this quote by Joseph Addison?)
  2. To count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.
  3. To charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.
  4. To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause
    • 1611, King James Version, Romans 8:18
    • For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
    • 1611, King James Version, Romans 6:11
    • Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin...
    • I reckon he won't try that again.
  5. To reckon with something or somebody or not, i.e to reckon without something or somebody: to take into account, deal with, consider or not, i.e. to misjudge, ignore, not take into account, not deal with, not consider or fail to consider; e.g. reckon without one's host
  6. (intransitive) To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.
  7. To come to an accounting; to draw up or settle accounts; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; to adjust relations of desert or penalty.
    • Parfay," sayst thou, sometime he reckon shall." (Can we date this quote by Chaucer?)

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

See also

References

  • reckon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

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