abacus
/ˈæbəkəs/
Meaning
A table or tray scattered with sand which was used for calculating or drawing.
A table or tray scattered with sand which was used for calculating or drawing.
A board, tray, or table, divided into perforated compartments for holding bottles, cups, or the like; a kind of buffet, cupboard, or sideboard.
The uppermost portion of the capital of a column immediately under the architrave, in some cases a flat oblong or square slab, in others more decorated.
A device used for performing arithmetical calculations; (rare) a table on which loose counters are placed, or (more commonly) an instrument with beads sliding on rods, or counters in grooves, with one row of beads or counters representing units, the next tens, etc.
A board, tray, or table, divided into perforated compartments for holding bottles, cups, or the like; a kind of buffet, cupboard, or sideboard.
The uppermost portion of the capital of a column immediately under the architrave, in some cases a flat oblong or square slab, in others more decorated.
A device used for performing arithmetical calculations; (rare) a table on which loose counters are placed, or (more commonly) an instrument with beads sliding on rods, or counters in grooves, with one row of beads or counters representing units, the next tens, etc.
Examples
He [Gerebertus] was þe firste þat took abacus of Sarsyns, and ȝaf rules þerynne, þat mowe unneþe be understonde of þe kunnyngeste men of þe craft, þe whiche craftes men beþ cleped abaciste. Marianus. Abacus is a table wiþ þhe whiche schappes be portrayed and i-peynt in powdre, and abacus is a craft of geometrie.
[H]e set fondly and furiously to work upon [Thomas] Simpson's Euclid, [...] The smooth grassy sod answered all the purposes of the abacus, and the cows generously supplied him in a substitute for sand. Spreading and smoothing that substitute with his bear foot, he engraved upon it with his finger the mystic lines and letters; and, with book in hand, proceeded to establish the elementary principles of geometry, [...]
I’ve heard merchants still use an abacus for adding things up in China.
Before leaving the question of early arithmetic I should mention that for practical purposes the almost universal use of the abacus or swan-pan rendered it easy to add or subtract, or even to multiply and divide, without any knowledge of theoretical mathematics. [...] [I]t will be sufficient here to say that they afford a concrete way of representing a number in the decimal scale, and enable the results of addition and subtraction to be obtained by a merely mechanical process.
The computer is but another vehicle to employ in helping people learn, a cousin of books, films, blackboards, chalk, gerbils, abacuses. Like each of these devices, it can be well used or misused.
Word Forms
abaci
abacuses
Etymology
From Late Middle English abacus, abagus, agabus (“abacus; art of counting with an abacus”), from Latin abacus, abax (“sideboard or table with a slab at the top; slab at the top of a column; counting board, sand table; board for playing games”) (compare Late Latin abacus (“art of arithmetic”)), from Ancient Greek ἄβαξ (ábax, “slab, counting board; board covered with sand for drawing; plate; dice-board”). Doublet of abaque and abac.
The plural form abaci is reinforced from Latin abacī.