guess
/ɡɛs/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.17 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
verb
To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
verb
To suppose, to imagine (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
verb
To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".
Colloquial
Example Sentences
- "We can only guess at what was going through her mind."
- "She guessed that the delivery driver must have got stuck in traffic."
- "He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring."
- "You guessed the right answer!"
- "You will never guess what happened next."
- "That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online."
Etymology
From Middle English gessen (verb) and Middle English gesse (noun), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitisōną (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Danish gisne (“to guess”), Norwegian gissa, gjette (“to guess”), Swedish gissa (“to guess”), Saterland Frisian gisje (“to guess”), Dutch gissen (“to guess”), Low German gissen (“to guess”), Dutch gis (“a guess”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitiskōną). Compare also Russian гада́ть (gadátʹ, “to conjecture, guess, divine”), Albanian gjëzë (“riddle”) from gjej (“find, recover, obtain”). More at get.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
guesses (present, singular)
guessing (participle, present)
guessed (participle, past)
guessed (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
guessed (first person, past)
guessest (archaic, present)
guessed (past, second person)
guessedst (archaic, past)
guesseth (archaic, present)
guessed (past, singular)