# reckon

Pronunciation: say "REK-uhn" /ˈɹɛkən/

## Verb

1. To suppose or conclude that something is the case, especially after weighing the likely possibilities. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To think or believe that something is probably true.
   - _We reckon the project can be finished by spring if the funding holds._
   - _Most farmers around here reckon the harvest will be poor this year._
2. To take someone or something into account and deal with them; or, with "without," to fail to consider them and so misjudge a situation.
   - Simple: To consider and deal with someone or something. Reckon without means to fail to plan for them and be caught out.
   - _City planners must reckon with rising sea levels in the coming decades._
   - _He set off confidently but reckoned without the locked gate at the trailhead._
3. To settle accounts and balance debt against credit; figuratively, to come to a final accounting for one's actions.
   - Simple: To settle up what is owed, or to face the results of what you have done.
4. To count, enumerate, or calculate a number or total; to work something out by counting or calculation.
   - Simple: To count things or work out a number or total.
   - _The shepherd would reckon his flock each evening before dark._
   - _Sailors once reckoned their position from the stars._
5. To count someone or something as part of a number, rank, or series, and to regard or esteem them in a particular way.
   - Simple: To consider someone or something as belonging to a certain group or rank.
   - _Historians reckon the era among the most turbulent in the nation's past._
   - _He was reckoned one of the finest scholars of his generation._
6. To attribute or assign a particular quality or value to someone or something.
   - Simple: To say that someone or something has a certain quality or value.
   - _Under the club's rules, a draw is reckoned as half a win when players are ranked._
   - _Locals still reckon the old mill the oldest building in the county, though no one has ever proved it._

## Noun

7. A personal impression or opinion about something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A personal opinion or impression about something.
   - _We asked the old fisherman for his reckon on tomorrow's weather._
   - _Give me your honest reckon: is the new coach any good?_

## Origin

"Reckon" comes from Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian ("to pay; arrange; reckon") and ġerecenian ("to explain, recount"). These go back to a Proto-West Germanic verb meaning "to count, explain," and ultimately to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to make straight or right." It is related to Dutch rekenen, German rechnen, and Latin rectus ("straight, right").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/reckon (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).