English
guess
Guess comes from Middle English gessen ‘to guess’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gessen‘to guess’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592guess
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gessen‘to guess’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592guess
Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Not all together; better far, I guess, / That…”
The story
Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitiskōną).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ‘to take, seize’
prison, surprise, prize, comprehensive, prey, predator, apprentice, comprehend, comprise, comprehension, apprehension, apprehensive, apprehend, reprehensible, predation, reprieve, impregnable, beget, impresario, prehensile, 32 more
through Proto-Germanic *getaną ‘to get’
Today it means
verb To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English gessen / guess