Etymologically
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calculus

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkæl.kjʊ.ləs/[1]
  • US: /ˈkæl.kjə.ləs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin calculus (“small stone, pebble; reckoning”),[2][3][4][5][6] a diminutive of calx (“small stone, limestone”), the source of chalk.[2][4][7][8] In Latin the word was used of a pebble or counter in a game of draughts, of a stone for reckoning on an abacus or counting board, and hence of reckoning and calculation, and of a stone used in voting.[2][7][9] It also meant a stone in the bladder or kidneys.[7][6] The same Latin word is the source of calculate.[3][5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A system of calculation in higher mathematics: 1666 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,[3][6] 1672 in the OED, from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[2] Etymonline gives the 1660s.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a method of calculation in mathematics, and the main modern sense is short for differential calculus and integral calculus,[4][11][12] branches of mathematics that Newton and Leibniz developed independently.[13] In the late 17th century it also meant computation in general (1684–1817, now obsolete).[2][12] In medicine, from 1732, it is a stone or concretion formed in the body, such as a kidney stone;[2][4] Johnson (1755) knew only this sense, "the stone in the bladder".[14] It is also used of tartar on the teeth.[6][4] In logic and mathematics it is any formal system of calculation with symbols, as in predicate calculus.[13][12]

Timeline

  • 1666 – a system of calculation in higher mathematics.[3][6]
  • 1672 – first OED quotation, for the mathematical sense.[2]
  • 1684 – computation, calculation (obsolete by 1817).[2]
  • 1732 – in medicine, a stone formed in the body.[2][4]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as the stone in the bladder.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The branch of mathematics that deals with derivatives and integrals, made up of differential and integral calculus.[13][12][6]
  2. Any method or system of calculation or reasoning with symbols; in logic, a formal system.[13][12][6]
  3. In medicine (plural calculi), a stone-like concretion of mineral salts in a hollow organ or duct, as a kidney stone.[13][6][2]
  4. Tartar on the teeth.[6]
  5. (obsolete) Computation, calculation.[2][12][6]

Word family

  • precalculus
  • differential calculus
  • infinitesimal calculus
  • integral calculus

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.