compute
com·pute/kəmˈpjut/verb, noun
compute is spelled C-O-M-P-U-T-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (com·pute). It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, compute means “To reckon, calculate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in compute?
| Letters | 7: C-O-M-P-U-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: com·pute |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is compute?
Compute appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce compute?
- UK /kəmˈpjuːt/
- US /kəmˈpjut/
- Australia /kəmˈpjʉːt/
Compute has 2 syllables, split com·pute in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-compute.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Samuel_Muldoon_(Muldoonsamuel55)-compute.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with compute?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as compute from its last stressed vowel (/ut/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of compute
- computes present, singular, he/she/it
- computing participle, present
- computed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does compute mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To reckon, calculate.
Can anyone here compute the square root of 10201?
- 2
informalTo make sense. (commonly used in mimicry of a science fictional robot and spoken in a robotic voice; most frequently in negative constructs)
Does that compute, or do I need to explain further?
noun
- 1
Computational processing power (number of operations per unit of time) or computational work (to be) done (number of operations).
The GPU does not have enough on-chip SRAM memory for the parameters, and doesn't have enough compute to run the entire model in real time.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Compute in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to reckon or calculate:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | computer, calculer |
| German | berechnen, rechnen, errechnen |
| Portuguese | computar, calcular |
| Spanish | computar, calcular |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does compute come from?
17th century. Borrowed from French computer, from Latin computō (“calculate, compute”). Doublet of count.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).