Counts

Counts refers to several related concepts, including the act and result of counting, and a historical noble title used in parts of Europe. In everyday language, counts describe how many elements in a set meet a condition, and the plural form often appears in statistical reports as counts across categories or groups.

The word has historical roots in Latin comes, meaning companion or attendant, and entered European languages via Old French as comte. The title spread across medieval and early modern Europe, where a count governed a county and held local judicial and administrative authority. In some regions the title evolved differently, giving rise to variants such as comte (French), conte (Italian), graaf (Dutch), and the English term earl as a corresponding noble rank. The feminine form is countess.

As a noble title, counts occupied a rank below dukes and above viscounts in many feudal hierarchies. Responsibilities and privileges varied by territory and period, but often included governance of lands, collection of taxes, and defense duties. In modern states the title persists chiefly in ceremonial or historical contexts, with some countries granting hereditary or courtesy recognition while political power has waned.

In mathematics and statistics, a count is a nonnegative integer representing the number of items in a set that satisfy a condition. Counts are used to describe frequencies, probabilities, and distributions. In computing and data processing, a counter is a variable or device that increments to track occurrences over time.

Counts can also appear as a surname and as part of fictional or stylistic titles, such as "the Count" in literature and media.