Meanings
nouncounting rod (plural counting rods)
plural counting rods
- mathematicsOne of a set of small bars, used by mathematicians in some Asian countries, placed either horizontally or vertically to represent any number and any fraction.
In recent archaeological excavations a number of ancient counting-rods have been unearthed. More than 30 rods were found in August 1971 in Qianyang County of Shaanxi Province.
Ancient China's Technology and Science
[1983, Rongzhao Mei, “The Decimal Place-Value Numeration and the Rod and Bead Arithmetics”, in 中国古代科技成就 [Ancient China's Technology and Science] (China Knowledge Series), Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 58–59
Origin
Calque from Chinese 算籌／算筹 (suànchóu).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 算籌 /算筹, 算子
- 算籌 /算筹 (suànchóu)small bar
- 算子 (suànzǐ)small bar
Finnish laskupuikko
- laskupuikkosmall bar
French baguette à calculer
- baguette à calculersmall bar
Japanese 算木, 算籌
- 算木 (sangi)small bar
- 算籌 (sanchū)small bar
Korean 산가지, 산목
- 산가지 (san'gaji)small bar
- 산목 (sanmok)small bar
Cite this entry
APA
counting rod. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counting%20rod
MLA
“counting rod.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counting%20rod. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “counting rod,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/counting%20rod.
Source: counting rod on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.