sum

B2 Topic:Numbers & Quantity

US /ˈsʌm/ UK /sʌm/ See IPA manual

Homophones

Minimal pairs

Sounds like thumb /θ/ vs /s/ Sounds like psalm /ʌ/ vs /ɑ/

Freq #4798

Meanings

1

noun
An amount of money.

They borrowed a large sum from the bank.
2

noun
The total you get when you add numbers together.

The sum of 3 and 4 is 7.
3

noun
A simple arithmetic problem, especially one given to a student.

We are learning division, and the sums are tricky.
4

verb
To give the main points of something in a short form.

The final chapter sums up the whole argument.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an amount of money. amountquantity of moneysum of money

2 noun · the total you get when you... sum totaltotal totality summation

3 noun · a simple arithmetic... calculation computation

4 verb · to give the main points of... sum upsummarise summarize

Word family

Forms summedsummingsums

Derived forms checksumnegative-sumpositive-sumsum-totalsum-upzero-sum

Related forms successorsummandsummary summation summative

Common collocations

Etymology

* As a Chinese surname: ** a pronunciation of 沈, see Shen. ** Also Romanized from 岑 (cén) based on the Cantonese pronunciation, see Cen. ** Variant Romanization of 覃, see Tan, Qin. * As a Cambodian/Khmer surname, from the name ស៊ុំ (sum), possibly from the Chinese above. * As a Slovene and Czech surname Šum, from šum (“noise”) or šum (“waterfall”), compare Shum. * As a Jewish surname, from Polish sum (“catfish”).

sum Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Numbers & Quantity

External links

# sum

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈsʌm/
**IPA (UK):** /sʌm/
**Frequency rank:** 4798

## Meanings
1. An amount of money.
2. The total you get when you add numbers together.
3. A simple arithmetic problem, especially one given to a student.
4. To give the main points of something in a short form.

## Examples
- They borrowed a large sum from the bank.
- The sum of 3 and 4 is 7.
- We are learning division, and the sums are tricky.
- The final chapter sums up the whole argument.

## Derived Forms
- checksum
- negative-sum
- positive-sum
- sum-total
- sum-up
- zero-sum

## Related Forms
- successor
- summand
- summary
- summation
- summative

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sum

## Etymology
* As a Chinese surname: ** a pronunciation of 沈, see Shen. ** Also Romanized from 岑 (cén) based on the Cantonese pronunciation, see Cen. ** Variant Romanization of 覃, see Tan, Qin. * As a Cambodian/Khmer surname, from the name ស៊ុំ (sum), possibly from the Chinese above. * As a Slovene and Czech surname Šum, from šum (“noise”) or šum (“waterfall”), compare Shum. * As a Jewish surname, from Polish sum (“catfish”).

## Topics
- Numbers & Quantity

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