different between infer vs reckon

English

Etymology

From Latin infer?, from Latin in- (“in, at, on; into”) + Latin fer? (“bear, carry; suffer”) (cognate to Old English beran, whence English bear), from Proto-Italic *fer?, from Proto-Indo-European *b?éreti (“to bear, carry”), from the root *b?er-. Literally “carry forward”, equivalent to “bear in”, as in concluding from a premise.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?f?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?f??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Verb

infer (third-person singular simple present infers, present participle inferring, simple past and past participle inferred)

1. (transitive) To introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence. [from 16th c.]
   • 2010, "Keep calm, but don't carry on", The Economist, 7 Oct 2010:

     It is dangerous to infer too much from martial bluster in British politics: at the first hint of trouble, channelling Churchill is a default tactic for beleaguered leaders of all sorts.

2. (transitive) To lead to (something) as a consequence; to imply. (Now often considered incorrect, especially with a person as subject.) [from 16th c.]
   • a. 1535, Thomas More, letter to Fryth

     the fyrste parte is not the proofe of the second. but rather contrarywyse the seconde inferreth well y? fyrst.

3. (obsolete) To cause, inflict (something) upon or to someone. [16th-18th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.8:

     faire Serena […] fled fast away, afeard / Of villany to be to her inferd […].

4. (obsolete) To introduce (a subject) in speaking, writing etc.; to bring in. [16th–18th c.]

Usage notes

There are two ways in which the word "infer" is sometimes used as if it meant "imply". "Implication" is done by a person when making a "statement", whereas "inference" is done to a proposition after it had already been made or assumed. Secondly, the word "infer" can sometimes be used to mean "allude" or "express" in a suggestive manner rather than as a direct "statement". Using the word "infer" in this sense is now generally considered incorrect. [1] [2]

Synonyms

• assume, conclude, deduce, educe, construe

Related terms

• inferable
• inference
• illative
• illation
• -ferous (-iferous)

Translations

Anagrams

• -frine, Finer, finer, frine

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?in.fer/, [???f?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?in.fer/, [?inf?r]

Verb

?nfer

1. second-person singular present active imperative of ?nfer?

References

• infer in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• infer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

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