amount
Definitions
A quantity or total of something, especially of money or an uncountable substance
数量，总额，总数（尤指金钱或不可数物质）
(followed by to) To add up to a total figure
（与 to 连用）总计达到，合计为
(followed by to) To be equivalent to or amount in effect to something
（与 to 连用）等于，相当于
Root Breakdown
Root-deriveda- (from Latin ad-, 'up to') + mount ('rise'). Latin admontāre meant 'to rise up to' a level. Picture a heap growing until it reaches a mark — that is what numbers do as they pile up. So amount means 'to rise to a total' (the costs amount to $500) and, as a noun, the total itself. The 'be equivalent to' sense ('it amounts to a refusal') extends the same idea: when you add everything up, this is what it comes to.
Root mount still carries 9 more wordsWhy It Means This
Amount hides a mountain. The ad- + montem core meant 'rising up to' a height, and a growing total behaves exactly like a growing pile — small sums stack up until they reach a figure. That is why amount can mean both the act of totalling (amount to) and the total reached. The figurative 'amount to' ('his promise amounted to nothing') is the same image stripped of numbers: add it all up and see what it really comes to.
Common Collocations
- 1.a large amount of大量的
- 2.a small amount of少量的
- 3.a fair amount of相当多的
- 4.the total amount总额
- 5.amount to总计达到
Example Sentences
- 1.
A large amount of money was spent on the project.
- 2.
The repairs amounted to over three thousand dollars.
- 3.
His silence amounted to an admission of guilt.
- 4.
No amount of apologizing could fix the damage.
Easily Confused
amount vs number: use amount with uncountable nouns (a large amount of water/work) and number with countable nouns (a large number of people/books). 'A large amount of people' is a common mistake.