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count

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Count

English

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 count (disambiguation) on Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Proto-Italic *kom-
Latin con-
Latin com-
Latin putus
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.
Proto-Italic *-ājō
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin putō
Latin computō
Anglo-Norman counterbor.
Middle English counten
English count

    From Middle English counten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman conter, from Old French conter (“add up; tell a story”), from Latin computō (“to compute”). In this sense, displaced native Old English tellan, whence Modern English tell. Doublet of compute.

    Compare typologically reckon, Russian счита́ть (sčitátʹ), счита́ться (sčitátʹsja); the semantic evolution to Mongolian санах (sanax).

    Verb

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    Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:

    count (third-person singular simple present counts, present participle counting, simple past and past participle counted)

    1. (intransitive) To recite numbers in sequence.
      Can you count to a hundred?
      The psychiatrist asked her to count down from a hundred by sevens.
    2. (transitive) To determine the number of (objects in a group).
      Synonym: tell
      Count the number of apples in the bag and write down the number on the spreadsheet.
    3. (intransitive) To amount to, to number in total.
    4. (intransitive, figurative, passive-like) To be of significance; to matter; to be considered (as something); to be included (of something).
      Your views don’t count here.
      It does count if you cheat with someone when you’re drunk.
    5. (intransitive, figurative, passive-like) To be an example of something: often followed by as and an indefinite noun.
      Apples count as a type of fruit.
      • 1886, John Addington Symonds, Sir Philip Sidney:
        This excellent man […] counted among the best and wisest of English statesmen.
      • 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist‎[2], volume 408, number 8847:
        Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. […] But as a foundation for analysis it is highly subjective: it rests on difficult decisions about what counts as a territory, what counts as output and how to value it. Indeed, economists are still tweaking it.
      • 2025 September 12, Eric Levenson, “Charlie Kirk’s final hours: How a stage for debate became a scene of tragedy”, in CNN‎[3], archived from the original on 12 September 2025:
        “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” he asked.¶“Too many,” Kirk quipped. The crowd clapped and cheered.¶Five, the audience member claimed. “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” the man continued. Kirk leaned forward and picked up his mic before setting back into an upright position. “Counting or not counting gang violence?” he said.¶A loud “pop” suddenly rang out.¶Kirk lurched back and to the left. Blood splashed from his neck onto his white shirt.
    6. (transitive) To consider something as an example of something or as having some quality; to account, to regard as.
      He counts himself a hero after saving the cat from the river.
      I count you as more than a friend.
    7. (transitive) To reckon in, to include in consideration.
      They walked for three days, not counting the time spent resting.
    8. (intransitive, obsolete) To take account or note (of), to care (for).
    9. (transitive, obsolete) To recount, to tell.
    10. (intransitive, UK, law, obsolete) To plead orally; to argue a matter in court; to recite a count.[1]
    Conjugation
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    Conjugation of count
    infinitive (to) count
    present tense past tense
    1st-person singular count counted
    2nd-person singular count, countest† counted, countedst†
    3rd-person singular counts, counteth† counted
    plural count
    subjunctive count counted
    imperative count —
    participles counting counted

    † Archaic or obsolete.

    Synonyms
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    Derived terms
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    Terms derived from count (verb)
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    Translations
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    Noun

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    count (plural counts)

    1. The act of counting or tallying a quantity.
      Give the chairs a quick count to check if we have enough.
      Breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of five.
    2. The result of a tally that reveals the number of items in a set; a quantity counted.
      • 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 177:
        By the official count, there are something like thirteen hundred species of birds in the Amazon, but Cohn-Haft thinks there are actually a good many more, because people have relied too much on features like size and plumage and not paid enough attention to sound.
    3. A countdown.
    5. (baseball) The number of balls and strikes, respectively, on a batter's in-progress plate appearance.
      He has a 3–2 count with the bases loaded.
    6. (obsolete) An object of interest or account; value; estimation.
    7. (minced oath, slang) Cunt (the taboo swear word)
      That count deserves a punishment.
    Derived terms
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    Terms derived from count (noun)
    Translations
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    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

    Adjective

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    count (not comparable)

    2. (linguistics, grammar) Countable.
      • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 118:
        For example, the term abuse would require at least one definition for the uncount usage ‘invective, insulting language’, and another for the count usage ‘an item of invective, an insult’.
    3. (shipping, marketing) Used to show the amount of like items in a package.
    Derived terms
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    References

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    1. ^ Alexander M[ansfield] Burrill (1850–1851), “COUNT”, in A New Law Dictionary and Glossary: […], volume (please specify |part= or |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: John S. Voorhies, […], →OCLC.

    Etymology 2

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    English Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia
    Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:

    From Middle English counte, from Anglo-Norman conte and Old French comte (“count”), from Latin comes (“companion”) (more specifically derived from its accusative form comitem) in the sense of "noble fighting alongside the king". Doublet of comes, comte, and conte.

    Noun

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    count (plural counts)

    1. The male ruler of a county.
      • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 313:
        After his marriage, John made a progress through the country with his beautiful Elizabeth, and they purchased towns and villages and lands until he became master of nearly half Rügen, and a very considerable count in the country. His father, old James Dietrich, was made a noble-man, and his brothers and sisters gentlemen and ladies - for what cannot money do?
    2. A nobleman holding a rank intermediate between dukes and barons.
    3. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Tanaecia. Other butterflies in this genus are called earls and viscounts.
    Hyponyms
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    • comte (“French count”)
    • conte (“Italian count”)
    • earl (“English count”)
    • graaf (“Dutch count”)
    • graf (“German count”)
    Derived terms
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    Translations
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    See also
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    Anagrams

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    Middle English

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    Etymology 1

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    Noun

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    count

    1. alternative form of cunte

    Etymology 2

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    Verb

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    count

    1. alternative form of counten
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