Calculator
nounA device or program that performs mathematical calculations.
How to spell calculator
10 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce calculator
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does calculator mean?
- nounA device or program that performs mathematical calculations.
Calculator in a sentence
-
She reached for a calculator to check the monthly budget.
-
The exam rules state that no calculator may be used in the first section.
Where does calculator come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin calculator, meaning 'a person who reckons or counts', which was built on the verb calculare, 'to count or compute'. That verb in turn traces back to calculus, the Latin word for a small pebble or stone, because ancient Romans literally moved little stones around on a counting board (an abacus) to do their sums. So a calculator was once a human reckoner shuffling pebbles, and only in the modern era did the name pass to the mechanical and then electronic devices that count for us. English adopted the word in the 1600s, originally for the person doing the arithmetic. The same humble pebble root still survives in 'calculus', the branch of mathematics, and in the medical 'calculus' meaning a stone such as a kidney stone, which helps explain why the spelling keeps that distinctive -cul- in the middle.
How the word is built
- calcul- (from Latin calculus: pebble used for counting)
- -ate (verb)
- -or (agent: thing or person that does)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.