reckon

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rekenen (also recenen, rikenen),^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English gerecenian (“to recount, relate, explain; to arrange in order”),^[3][2][5][6] a West Germanic verb.^[7][6][8] Its cognates are Old Frisian rekenia (“to reckon”), Middle Dutch rekenen, Middle Low German rekenen (“to count”), Old High German rehhanōn, whence German rechnen (“to count, calculate”),^{[2][3][9][10][7]} and Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌷𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (rahnjan, “to count, reckon”).^[3][9][11] Hoad and Klein relate the verb to recen (“ready, quick, straightforward”),^[8][9] and Etymonline, Klein and the American Heritage Dictionary trace the family to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to move in a straight line”), to move in a straight line, the source of regō (“to rule”).^[3][9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English the verb meant to recount, relate or tell, and to count out money in payment.^[10][7][8] In Middle English it meant to list or enumerate things one by one, about 1175 in the Ormulum,^[10][8] and to count or compute, about 1225 in the Ancrene Riwle.^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, the early senses, giving an account of items received and mentioning things in order, led to the idea of calculation, which in turn led to that of holding an opinion.^[6] Hoad dates "estimate, consider" to the 14th century, and "make a calculation, settle accounts with" and "calculate to" to the 16th;^[8] "to depend on" (reckon on) follows in the 17th century.^[8] The parenthetical I reckon, I suppose, dates from about 1600 and was once used by literary writers such as Richardson and Swift, but came to be associated with the American South and was then looked down on as provincial.^[3] The American Heritage Dictionary still labels the senses "to think" and "to intend" chiefly Southern and South Midland.^[5] In British dialect from Scotland to Devon reckon meant both to regard or esteem and to think or suppose, and the English Dialect Dictionary records it in many local forms such as rackon and ricken.^[12] In slang, especially British, reckon has meant to rate highly or approve of, usually in the negative, since the mid-19th century.^[13] Johnson (1755) gave its first sense as to number or count.^[14]

Timeline

• Old English – to recount, relate; to pay out money.^[10][7]
• c1175 – to enumerate, list.^[10]
• ?c1225 – to count, calculate.^[10][2]
• 1340 – to make a calculation.^[10]
• 14th century – to estimate, consider.^[8]
• c1600 – parenthetical I reckon, I suppose.^[3]
• 1861 – (slang) to rate highly, approve of.^[13]
• 1902 – noun, an act of thinking (to have another reckon coming).^[10]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To count or calculate; to work out by calculation: The surveyors reckoned the cost at two million.
2. To regard or consider as being: He was reckoned one of the best players of his generation.
3. (informal) To think or suppose: I reckon the bus has already gone.
4. To include as part of a group or class.
5. reckon on: to rely on or expect.
6. reckon with or without: to take, or fail to take, into account.
7. (archaic) reckon with: to settle accounts with.
8. (chiefly Southern US) To expect or intend to do something.

Word family

• reckonable
• misreckon
• unreckoned
• reckoner
• reckoning

Related words

• reck
• reckless
• regal
• rule
• right

Usage notes

Etymonline notes that I reckon in the sense "I suppose" was once good literary English but came to be thought of as a provincial Americanism;^[3] Weekley likewise observed that the American use was formerly literary English.^[11] The English Dialect Dictionary shows that the same use was widespread in British dialects, from Scotland to Devon.^[12]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.