calculate: [16] Calculate comes from the past participial stem of the Latin verb calculāre, a derivative of the noun calculus, which meant ‘pebble’. This was almost certainly a diminutive form of Latin calx, from which English gets calcium and chalk. The notion of ‘counting’ was present in the word from ancient times, for a specialized sense of Latin calculus was ‘stone used in counting, counter’ (its modern mathematical application to differential and integral calculus dates from the 18th century).
Another sense of Latin calculus was ‘stone in the bladder or kidney’, which was its meaning when originally borrowed into English in the 17th century. => calcarious, calcium, calculus, causeway, chalk
calculate (v.)
1560s, "to compute, to estimate by mathematical means," from Latin calculatus, past participle of calculare "to reckon, compute," from calculus (see calculus). Meaning "to plan, devise" is from 1650s. Replaced earlier calculen (mid-14c.), from Old French calculer. Related: Calculable.
双语例句
1. Take a hundred and twenty values and calculate the mean.
取120个值计算平均数。
来自柯林斯例句
2. From this you can calculate the total mass in the Galaxy.
由此你可以算出银河系的总质量。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Use the formula to calculate the volume of the container.
用公式计算容器的容积。
来自《权威词典》
4. This formula is used to calculate the area of a circle.
这个公式用于计算圆的面积。
来自《权威词典》
5. The scientist could not calculate when the spaceship would reach the Jupiter.