computing

Etymology

It is formed from English compute + -ing.^[2][3] Its base is from Middle French computer (“to calculate”) and the Latin verb behind it, Latin computō (“to calculate, reckon, count up”),^[2] formed from com- (“together”) and putō (“to reckon, think”);^[4][5] the same Latin verb is the source of count.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of calculating or counting: 1629, in Thomas Hobbes's translation of Thucydides.^[2] Dictionary.com dates the noun to 1640–50.^[3]

Semantic evolution

For three centuries the word was simply the verbal noun of compute, a synonym of computation.^[2] In 1946 the New York Times used it for the work of electronic computers,^[2] and it came to mean the use and programming of computers, especially as a profession, and the field of computer science.^[2][7] It is also used attributively, of things relating to computers.^[7]

Timeline

• 1629 – calculating, counting.^[2]
• 1946 – the operation and use of electronic computers; later computer science.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The use of computers and the writing of programs for them, especially as an occupation.^[7][2]
2. The study of computers; computer science.^[7][2]
3. The action of calculating or counting; computation.^[2]

Adjective

1. Relating to computers: computing power.^[7]

Related words

• computable
• computation
• computerize
• computer
• count
• putative

References

1. ^ 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 Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins