Computation

How to spell computation

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce computation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does computation mean?

1. nounThe act or process of calculating something using mathematics or a machine.

Computation in a sentence

• The tax form requires a careful computation of your annual income.

• The engineer ran a long computation to confirm the bridge could bear the load.

Where does computation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin computare, which meant 'to count up' or 'to reckon together', formed from com- 'together' and putare 'to reckon, to think over, to prune'. The original sense of putare was actually 'to prune or clear away', which shifted toward 'to settle an account' and then 'to calculate'. The noun form computatio described an act of counting or calculating, and English took it in through French and Latin scholarly use during the 1400s and 1500s. The same Latin computare is the direct ancestor of the everyday words 'count', 'compute', and even 'computer'. Remembering the buried 'put' root (reckon) helps explain why the middle is spelled -put- rather than the way it sounds.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• put (from putare: to reckon, calculate)
• -ation (noun of action)