calculator
[ˈkʰæɫ.kjəˌleɪ̯.ɾɚ]
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.56 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A mechanical or electronic device that performs mathematical calculations; (now usually) an electronic one specifically.
noun
A person who performs mathematical calculation.
noun
A person who calculates (in the sense of scheming).
Example Sentences
- "electronic calculator; pocket calculator"
- "The calculator on a bookkeeper's desk in the 1950s was an adding machine with mechanical guts."
- "I told him to hand me a calculator and he jokingly placed an adding machine at my side."
- "During the war, his grandmother had worked at the Bletchley Park decoding station as a calculator."
- "First, many real-world investors bear little resemblance to the cool calculators of efficient-market theory: they're all too subject to herd behavior, to bouts of irrational exuberance and unwarranted panic."
- "Near-synonyms: schemer, plotter; manipulator"
Etymology
Etymology tree Pre-Greekbor.? Ancient Greek χᾰ́λῐξ (khắlĭx)bor.? substratebor.? Latin calx Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -ulus Latin calculus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin calculō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin calculātorlbor. Middle English calkelatour English calculator In the sense of a person, from Middle English calkelatour (“a mathematician, an astrologer”), borrowed from Latin calculātor, equivalent to calculate + -or. The other meanings arose in Modern English.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: calkelatour, calculātor
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kæl.kjə.leɪ.tɚ/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Computing.