Word.ws English Dictionary

compotus

compotus is the obsolete form of computus.

Meaning of computus

Noun

computus (countable and uncountable, plural computi)

  1. The calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar.
    • An elaborate bundle of techniques called computus therefore developed around Easter calculations. Computus formed the centerpiece of “scientific” education in the monasteries.2008, Ian F. McNeely, Lisa Wolverton, Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet, page 68
  2. (historical) A book of tables for calculating dates of astronomical events and moveable feasts.
    • This computus also contains only one completed Plinian diagram, that for the planetary harmonic intervals.1987, Bruce Eastwood, 5: Plinian astronomical diagrams in the early Middle Ages, Edward Grant, John Emery Murdoch, Mathematics and Its Applications to Science and Natural Philosophy in the Middle...

Questions about compotus

What is compotus the obsolete form of?
Compotus is the obsolete form of computus.

Words near compotus in the dictionary

  1. compote
  2. compotes
  3. compotier
  4. compotiers
  5. compots
  6. compotus
  7. compound
  8. compound animal
  9. compound animals
  10. compound attack
  11. compound attacks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: compotus (page history and authors); computus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “compotus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/compotus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.