## Start by defining a simple dictionary x = {'y' : ['A', 'B', 'C', 'A', 'B', 'C'], 'z' : ['D', 'E', 'F', 'D', 'E', 'F']} import pandas as pd x = pd.DataFrame(x) # format x as DataFrame y_freq = x['y'].value_counts() # pass column 'y' of DataFrame x to value_counts print(y_freq)