reckon

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To think or believe something (informal).

   I reckon he won't try that again.

2. 2
   verb

   To calculate or count an amount.

   They reckoned the total cost at over a million dollars.

3. 3
   verb

   To deal with or take into account something or someone important.

   The new company is a force to reckon with.

From Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian (“to pay; arrange, dispose, reckon”) and ġerecenian (“to explain, recount, relate”); both from Proto-West Germanic *rekanōn (“to count, explain”), from Proto-West Germanic *rekan (“swift, ready, prompt”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to make straight or right”). Cognate with Scots rekkin (“to enumerate, mention, narrate, rehearse, count, calculate, compute”), Saterland Frisian reekenje (“to calculate, figure, reckon”), West Frisian rekkenje (“to account, tally, calculate, figure”), Dutch rekenen (“to count, calculate, reckon, charge”…

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