different between distinguish vs reckon

English

Etymology

From Middle English distingwen, from Old French distinguer, from Latin distinguere (“to separate, divide, distinguish, set off, adorn, literally mark off”), from di-, dis- (“apart”) + stinguere. Compare extinguish.

Pronunciation

• enPR: d?s-t?ng?gw?sh, IPA^(key): /d?s?t???w??/
• Rhymes: -???w??
• Hyphenation: dis?tin?guish

Verb

distinguish (third-person singular simple present distinguishes, present participle distinguishing, simple past and past participle distinguished)

1. To recognize someone or something as different from others based on its characteristics.

   Synonyms: differentiate, discriminate; see also Thesaurus:tell apart

   Antonym: confuse
2. To see someone or something clearly or distinctly.
3. To make oneself noticeably different or better from others through accomplishments.
   • 1784: William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE

     THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To make to differ.

Usage notes

In sense “see a difference”, more casual than differentiate or the formal discriminate; more casual is “tell the difference”.

Derived terms

• distinguished
• distinguishable
• distinguishing
• distinguishness
• undistinguishing

Related terms

• distinct
• distinction
• extinguish

Translations

Further reading

• distinguish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• distinguish in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Alternative forms

• reckin (dialectal)
• recken (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian (“to pay; arrange, dispose, reckon”) and ?erecenian (“to explain, recount, relate”); both from Proto-Germanic *rekan?n? (“to count, explain”), from Proto-Germanic *rekanaz (“swift, ready, prompt”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?re?- (“to make straight or right”).

Cognate with Scots rekkin (“to ennumerate, 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”), German Low German reken (“to reckon”), German rechnen (“to count, reckon, calculate”), Swedish räkna (“to count, calculate, reckon”), Icelandic reikna (“to calculate”), Latin rectus (“straight, right”). See also reck, reach.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???k?n/
• Rhymes: -?k?n

Verb

reckon (third-person singular simple present reckons, present participle reckoning, simple past and past participle reckoned)

1. To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
   • I reckoned above two hundred and fifty on the outside of the church.
2. 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.
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     For him I reckon not in high estate Whom long descent of birth, Or the sphere of fortune, raises

3. To charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.
   • 1611, King James Version, Romans 4:9

     […] faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

   • Without her eccentricities being reckoned to her for a crime.

4. (colloquial) 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.

   • 1611, King James Version, Romans 8:18

     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, King James Version, Romans 6:11

     Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.
5. 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
6. (intransitive) To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.
7. 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.

   • Parfay," sayst thou, sometime he reken shall."

Synonyms

• number
• enumerate
• compute
• calculate
• estimate
• value
• esteem
• account
• repute

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• calculate
• guess

References

• reckon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• conker, rocken