reckon
/ˈɹɛkən/
reckon verb: to count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate. Also the alternative form of rackan.
Verb
reckon (third-person singular simple present reckons, present participle reckoning, simple past and past participle reckoned)
- To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
- then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 27:18
- I reckoned above two hundred and fifty on the outside of the church.1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- To count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.
- He was reckoned among the transgressors1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 53:12
- For him I reckon not in high estate Whom long descent of birth, Or the sphere of fortune, raises1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC
- To charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.
- […] faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 4:9
- Without her eccentricities being reckoned to her for a crime.1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 10, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC
- To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause
- I reckon he won't try that again.
- I’ve just heard from the repairman: it's going to cost £1000. I'd reckoned it’d be £500 at most.
- To reckon with something or somebody or not, i.e. to reckon without something or somebody: to take into account, deal with, consider or not, i.e. to misjudge, ignore, not take into account, not deal with, not consider or fail to consider; e.g. reckon without one's host
- There are hardships that nobody reckons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There’s a land—oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back—and I will.1907, Robert W. Service, The Spell of the Yukon
- There are hardships that nobody reckons;
- To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.
- To come to an accounting; to draw up or settle accounts; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; to adjust relations of desert or penalty.
Noun
reckon (plural reckons)
- An impression or opinion.
- Shaggy asked him, ' 'Ow dew yew a reckon on your turnips, Fred?'2009, Brendan Behan, Borstal Boy, page 264
- I wouldn't get much of an idea what the site was like until daylight but it was close to the cook fires and the food stalls and entertainment tents so, my reckons it was perfect.2020, R. H. van de Weert, Reveille
Also used as
reckon is also the alternative form of rackan.
reckon meaning in Vietnamese and Myanmar
reckon in Vietnamese
- to count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate
- tính toán
- colloquial: to conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose
- tính toán
reckon in Myanmar
- to count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate
- တွက် twak
Examples of reckon in a sentence
- For all the king counted and pointed and reckoned, he could not find as much as a hair of them missing.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 175:
- For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 8:18:
- Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 6:11:
- The life span of a station, however, cannot be so easily reckoned, for it depends largely on the rehabilitation and upkeep of the existing structures.1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 250:
Synonyms of reckon
Forms of reckon
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | reckons |
| present participle | reckoning |
| past participle | reckoned |
| past | reckoned |
| alternative form (dialectal) | reckin |
| alternative form (obsolete) | recken |
| Noun | |
| plural | reckons |
Origin of reckon
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”), German Low German reken (“to reckon”), German rechnen (“to count, reckon, calculate”), Danish regne (“to calculate”), Swedish räkna (“to count, calculate, reckon”), Norwegian Nynorsk rekna (“to calculate”), Icelandic reikna (“to calculate”), Latin rectus (“straight, right”). See also reck, reach.
Words formed from reckon
Words that rhyme with reckon
Questions about reckon
- What does reckon mean?
- Reckon means to count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
- What is reckon in Vietnamese?
- Reckon in Vietnamese is tính toán. See Reckon meaning in Vietnamese.
- How do you use reckon in a sentence?
- For all the king counted and pointed and reckoned, he could not find as much as a hair of them missing.
- What part of speech is reckon?
- Reckon can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce reckon?
- Reckon is pronounced /ˈɹɛkən/.
- What is the past tense of reckon?
- The past tense of reckon is reckoned.
Words near reckon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: reckon (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-reckon.ogg.
Cite this entry: “reckon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reckon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.