calculator
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- 1 calculator
This is the standard everyday word for a calculator, including both a physical device and a calculator app on a phone or computer.
calculator
A device or app used to perform arithmetic and other numerical calculations.
Learning notes
Explanation
The word is formed from เครื่อง “machine or device,” คิด “think or calculate,” and เลข “number or arithmetic.” Its structure therefore conveys the idea of a machine that calculates numbers. It can refer to a desktop or handheld calculator as well as a calculator app on a phone or computer. Its classifier is เครื่อง, as in เครื่องคิดเลขหนึ่งเครื่อง, “one calculator.”
Usage
It is commonly used in school, exams, shopping, accounting, and workplace situations involving numerical calculations. You will also hear it when someone asks to borrow a calculator or checks whether calculators are allowed.
Caution
เครื่องคิดเลข names the calculating device, while คิดเลข means “to calculate.” It does not normally mean “computer”; the usual Thai word for a computer is คอมพิวเตอร์.