To calculate or reckon a figure or amount; to make a calculation, especially using a computer.
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Latin1630swell-attested
From Latin 'computāre' (to count together, to sum up, to reckon, to calculate), a compound of 'com-' (together, with) + 'putāre' (to reckon, to think, to estimate; originally to prune, to cut clean). The semantic history of 'putāre' is a remarkable case of metaphor: its original meaning was to cut or prune (as in trimming trees or vines), and it extended to reckoning through the ancient practice of cutting notches in tally sticks to record numbers. ThePIEroot
from the 1940s. 'Computer' originally meant a human professional calculator before machines took the title. Key roots: computāre (Latin: "to count together, to sum up"), putāre (Latin: "to reckon, to think; to prune"), *pewH- (Proto-Indo-European: "to cut, to strike").