Cumulative
Etymology
From Latin “cumulare” (to heap up), from “cumulus” (a heap or pile) — the same word behind the piled-up cumulus cloud.
adjective · /KYOO-myuh-luh-tiv/
Describing a total built up by adding successive amounts over time.
What it names
It distinguishes the running total from the current rate, a gap that reshapes how numbers should be read.
Example
Daily new cases can be falling while the cumulative case count keeps rising, because the total only ever adds, never subtracts.
Related idea
A cumulative total and a rate answer different questions; a cumulative chart can only climb or flatten, so it always looks reassuring or alarming in ways a rate chart would not.