Counting

How to spell counting

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce counting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does counting mean?

1. verbDetermining the total number of items, or reciting numbers in order.
2. verbRelying on or expecting something or someone.

Counting in a sentence

• She spent the afternoon counting the cash in the register.

• The whole team is counting on you to finish the report.

• The toddler is already counting from one to twenty.

• We were counting on a refund that never arrived.

Where does counting come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'count', which English took from Old French conter and cunter, meaning 'to add up' or 'to tell a tale'. Those French forms descend from the Latin computare, built from com- 'together' and putare 'to reckon, to settle an account', so the literal sense was 'to reckon together'. The same Latin computare also gives us the modern word 'compute' and ultimately 'computer', a useful reminder that counting and calculating share one root. English adopted 'count' in the 1300s, and adding the familiar -ing ending produced the ordinary action noun and participle we use today. The spelling keeps the 'ou' of the French source and a single 't', so the only thing to watch is that there is no doubled letter before the suffix.

How the word is built

• count (from Latin computare: to reckon)
• -ing (present participle / gerund)