Summed

How to spell summed

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce summed

What does summed mean?

1. verbAdded numbers or amounts together to find a total.
2. verbExpressed the main points of something briefly, usually as 'summed up'.

Summed in a sentence

• The accountant summed the quarterly figures before the meeting.

• The lawyer summed up the case in a few clear sentences.

• Once she had summed the expenses, the budget no longer balanced.

• Her closing remark summed up the whole report neatly.

Where does summed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of the verb 'sum', which traces back to the Latin summa, meaning 'the top' or 'the highest part'. Romans wrote the total of a column of figures at the top rather than the bottom, so summa came to mean the whole amount or total. The word travelled into English through Old French 'summe' during the 1200s, first as the noun for a quantity of money, and the verb 'to sum' (to add into a total) followed soon after. The same root survives in 'summit', the highest point, and in 'summary', a piece of writing reduced to its main total of points. The single 'm' of 'sum' doubles before the '-ed' ending because the word is short and ends in a single stressed vowel plus consonant, which is the spelling trap many writers second-guess.

How the word is built

• sum (total, from Latin summa)
• -med (doubled m
• -ed past tense)