Where does “surmise” come from?
Surmise comes from Old French surmis, past participle of surmetre, from sur- and Latin mittere, meaning to send or throw, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mey-.
surmise (English): Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be...
Definitions
- Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be...
Ancestry of “surmise”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | surmis | — |
| 2 | Old French | surmetre | — |
| 3 | Old French | sur- | over, on top of |
| 4 | Latin | super- | super-; over, above |
| 5 | Latin | super | "accusative" above, on the top of, upon;... |
| 6 | Latin | eks-uper | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | upéri | alternative reconstruction of *upér |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | upér | above; over |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | upó | under, below |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃ewp- | — |