Phrase guide

tally stick

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A bone, or piece of wood, on which notches or scores are cut, as the marks of number, for account keeping.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nickstick, tally

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From tally + stick.

Across languages

Translations

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: rabush — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Albanian: çetele — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Armenian: հաշվեփայտ (hašvepʻayt) — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Middle Armenian: փայտ համարոյ (pʻayt hamaroy) — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Bulgarian: рабош (raboš) — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Catalan: pal de recompte — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Catalan: pal de comptar — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Catalan: bastó de recompte — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Chinese Mandarin: 帳目棍 /帐目棍 — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Czech: vrubovka — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Old Czech: rabušě — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Dutch: kerfstok — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Finnish: pulkka — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Finnish: pirkka — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Finnish: pykäläpuu — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • French: bâton de comptage — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • French: bâton de taille — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • German: Kerbholz — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • German: Kerbstock — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • German: Zählholz — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • German: Zählstab — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Greek: τσέτουλα (tsétoula) — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Ingrian: birkka — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Italian: bastone da conteggio — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Norwegian: karvestokk — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Occitan: òsca — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Persian: چوبخط (čub-xat) — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Polish: rabosz — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Romanian: răboj — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Russian: би́рка (bírka) — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Slovak: rováš — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Old Slovak: rováš — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Spanish: palo tallado — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Spanish: palo de cómputo — piece of wood with notches or scores
  • Ottoman Turkish: چتله (çetele) — piece of wood with notches or scores