Calculation
nounThe process of working something out using arithmetic or careful reasoning, or the result of doing so.
How to spell calculation
11 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce calculation
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does calculation mean?
- nounThe process of working something out using arithmetic or careful reasoning, or the result of doing so.
Calculation in a sentence
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A quick calculation showed the trip would cost more than expected.
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The engineer rechecked every calculation before signing off the design.
Where does calculation come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word traces back to the Latin calculus, which literally meant 'a small pebble' or 'little stone'. In the ancient world such pebbles were laid out on counting boards to perform arithmetic, so the verb calculare came to mean 'to reckon' or 'to count with stones'. From that verb Latin formed the noun calculatio, the act of reckoning, which passed through Old French and into English in the late 1300s. The same pebble-root survives in two surprising relatives: 'calculus', the branch of mathematics, and the medical 'calculus', a hard stony deposit such as a kidney stone. Remembering that hidden pebble helps with the spelling, since the middle 'cul' is easy to slip into 'cal'.
How the word is built
- calcul- (from Latin calculus: a small pebble used for counting)
- -ation (noun of action/process)
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