a quantity of money
"he borrowed a large sum"
"the amount he had in cash was insufficient"
the relative magnitude of something with reference to a criterion
"an adequate amount of food for four people"
The total, aggregate or sum of material (not applicable to discrete numbers or units or items in standard English).
"The amount of water left in the reservoir after months of drought was barely enough to keep the pumps running."
In plain English: An amount is the total quantity of something you have or use.
"The amount of rain we received this week was surprisingly high."
Usage: Use "amount" only with uncountable nouns like money, water, or traffic, never with countable items such as people or cars. You must say "a large number of people," not "a large amount of people."
To total or evaluate.
"The accountant carefully amounted all the receipts before submitting the final report to the manager."
In plain English: To amount to something means to add up to a specific total or result.
"The heavy snow began to amount to a foot deep by noon."
Usage: Do not use "amount" as a verb to mean "to equal" in mathematical equations; instead, use "equal." Reserve the verb form only for contexts where something totals up to a specific sum or reaches a certain conclusion through accumulation.
The word amount entered English from Middle English and Old French, originally carrying the meaning "to mount up to" or "come up to." Its roots trace back to a Latin phrase describing movement toward a mountain, which evolved into the modern sense of reaching a total sum.