reckon

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛkən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkən

Etymology 1

From Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian (“to pay; arrange, dispose, reckon”) and ġerecenian (“to explain, recount, relate”); both from Proto-West Germanic *rekanōn (“to count, explain”), from Proto-West Germanic *rekan (“swift, ready, prompt”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to make straight or right”).

Cognate with Scots rekkin (“to enumerate, mention, narrate, rehearse, count, calculate, compute”), Saterland Frisian reekenje (“to calculate, figure, reckon”), West Frisian rekkenje (“to account, tally, calculate, figure”), Dutch rekenen (“to count, calculate, reckon”), German Low German reken (“to reckon”), German rechnen (“to count, reckon, calculate”), Danish regne (“to calculate”), Swedish räkna (“to count, calculate, reckon”), Icelandic reikna (“to calculate”), Latin rectus (“straight, right”). See also reck, reach.

Alternative forms

• reckin (dialectal)
• recken (obsolete)

Verb

reckon (third-person singular simple present reckons, present participle reckoning, simple past and past participle reckoned)

1. To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 27:18:

     then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain

   • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     I reckoned above two hundred and fifty on the outside of the church.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 175:

     For all the king counted and pointed and reckoned, he could not find as much as a hair of them missing.

2. To count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 53:12:

     He was reckoned among the transgressors

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

     For him I reckon not in high estate Whom long descent of birth, Or the sphere of fortune, raises

3. To charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 4:9:

     […] faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 10, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     Without her eccentricities being reckoned to her for a crime.

4. (colloquial) To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause

   I reckon he won't try that again.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 8:18:

     For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 6:11:

     Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.

   • 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 250:

     The working life span of a passenger carriage, on average, is between 30 and 35 years, so a steady replacement takes place quite naturally. The life span of a station, however, cannot be so easily reckoned, for it depends largely on the rehabilitation and upkeep of the existing structures.

5. To reckon with something or somebody or not, i.e to reckon without something or somebody: to take into account, deal with, consider or not, i.e. to misjudge, ignore, not take into account, not deal with, not consider or fail to consider; e.g. reckon without one's host
   • 1907, Robert W. Service, The Spell of the Yukon:

     There are hardships that nobody reckons;
     There are valleys unpeopled and still;
     There’s a land—oh, it beckons and beckons,
     And I want to go back—and I will.

6. (intransitive) To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.
7. To come to an accounting; to draw up or settle accounts; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; to adjust relations of desert or penalty.

Synonyms

• (count): number, enumerate
• (calculate): calculate, compute
• (attribute a value): value, rate, esteem
• (conclude, suppose): think, believe, guess, suppose, esteem
• (make an enumeration): enumerate, compute

Derived terms

Derived terms

• chinny reckon
• dead reckon
• outreckon
• reckoner
• reckon for
• reckoning
• reckon on
• reckon out
• reckon up
• reckon upon
• reckon with
• reckon without
• reckon without one's host
• to reckon with

Translations

to count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate

• Bulgarian: смятам (bg) (smjatam), изчислявам (bg) (izčisljavam)
• Burmese: တွက် (my) (twak)
• Catalan: comptar (ca)
• Cebuano: suma
• Esperanto: kalkuli
• Finnish: laskea (fi), luetella (fi), räknätä (fi) (dialectal)
• French: compter (fr), calculer (fr)
• German: berechnen (de), errechnen (de), rechnen (de), ausrechnen (de), zusammenrechnen (de)
• Portuguese: contar (pt), calcular (pt)
• Romanian: calcula (ro), socoti (ro)
• Russian: счита́ть (ru) (sčitátʹ), подсчи́тывать (ru) (podsčítyvatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: izračunati (sh)
• Spanish: contar (es), calcular (es), censar (es)
• Vietnamese: tính toán (vi)
• Yiddish: חשבונען (kheshbenen), רעכענען (rekhenen)

to count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation

• Bulgarian: смятам (bg) (smjatam), считам (bg) (sčitam)
• Finnish: lukea (fi), laskea (fi)
• French: compter (fr), estimer (fr)
• German: zurechnen (de), zu etwas rechnen, zu etwas zählen
• Portuguese: estimar (pt)
• Russian: счита́ть (ru) (sčitátʹ)
• Spanish: contar (es)

to charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value

• Bulgarian: считам за (sčitam za)
• Cebuano: suma
• Finnish: lukea (fi)
• German: zuschreiben (de), zusprechen (de), beimessen (de), verleihen (de), anerkennen (de)
• Mongolian: үзэх (mn) (üzex)
• Portuguese: julgar (pt), considerar (pt)
• Spanish: atribuir (es), adjudicar (es)

colloquial: to conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose

• Bulgarian: разчитам на (razčitam na)
• Catalan: creure (ca), considerar (ca)
• Chinese: 研判 (zh) (yánpàn)
• Dutch: veronderstellen (nl)
• Finnish: päättää (fi), arvata (fi), arvella (fi), arvuutella (fi)
• French: estimer (fr), considérer (fr)
• German: schätzen (de), vermuten (de), mutmaßen (de), rechnen mit (de), sich ausrechnen
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌰𐌽 (munan)
• Italian: reputare (it), stimare (it), valutare (it)
• Mongolian: үзэх (mn) (üzex)
• Portuguese: concluir (pt), considerar (pt)
• Russian: полага́ть (ru) (polagátʹ), счита́ть (ru) (sčitátʹ)
• Spanish: suponer (es), concluir (es), tantear (es), estimar (es)
• Vietnamese: tính toán (vi)
• Yiddish: מיינען (meynen)

to make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing

• Bulgarian: броя (bg) (broja), преброявам (bg) (prebrojavam)
• Finnish: laskea (fi)
• Spanish: calcular (es)

to come to an accounting; to make up accounts; to settle

• Bulgarian: оправям сметките (opravjam smetkite)
• German: abrechnen (de)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} rekenen tot
• German: abschätzen (de), kalkulieren (de)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 헤아리다 (ko) (hearida)
• Nahuatl: ^{(please verify)} tlapoalli

Noun

reckon (plural reckons)

1. (informal) An impression or opinion.
   • 2009, Brendan Behan, Borstal Boy, page 264:

     Shaggy asked him, ' 'Ow dew yew a reckon on your turnips, Fred?'

   • 2020, R. H. van de Weert, Reveille:

     I wouldn't get much of an idea what the site was like until daylight but it was close to the cook fires and the food stalls and entertainment tents so, my reckons it was perfect.

   • 2020, Marvin J. Everheart, The Vision of M.E.:

     I have beckoned vigorously & my reckons have passed into a vast sea of stones, rearing the strong feelings, the dawn of light emerged; surfacing the depths of the deep & the depths was beckoning coldly.

   • 2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 37:

     Here's my reckon on mass incarceration.

Etymology 2

Noun

reckon (plural reckons)

1. (dialectal) Alternative form of rackan (“chain”)

See also

• calculate
• guess

References

• “reckon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• conker, rocken