Definitions
- 1. (accounting) to balance the books; to do the accounts
- 2. (fig.) to settle an account; to get one's revenge
Word relationships
Usage notes
Collocations
The figurative use often appears with personal pronouns like 跟/和+person+算账, meaning 'to get even with someone'.
Formality
The figurative sense 'to settle an account' is colloquial and often used in spoken Chinese when threatening revenge, not suitable for formal writing.
Example Sentences
1 shown他拿出算盘开始 算账 。
He took out an abacus and began calculating accounts.
AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.