A counter is a flat surface used for working, serving, or displaying things, such as in a kitchen or store; it can also mean a device that records how many times something happens.
The surface sense comes from Old French “contouer,” a table where accounts were checked, tied to “counting.” The device sense grows from the same idea: something that keeps track of numbers.
The kitchen counter and the digital counter on a website are cousins: both are places where things get ‘counted’ or handled. Even the ‘counter’ in ‘counterargument’ comes from the idea of going against or balancing something—another kind of mental accounting.
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