sum

B2 Topic:Money & Finance

US /ˈsʌm/ UK /sʌm/ See IPA manual

Homophones

some /sʌm/

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.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

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

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

Simplified etymology

Sum comes from Latin summa, meaning both “main part” and “total,” derived from summus, “highest.” The same source produced summary and summit.

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

Money & Finance

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
- Money & Finance

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