surmise
/səˈmaɪz/sur-MYZ
/sɚˈmaɪz/sur-MYZ
Meaningupon, above
Common meaning: suppose something without firm evidence
- surover, aboveSkeat, Concise Etymological Dictionary (1911), p. 532 · scan
- miseto send, releaseLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1152 · scan
‘over, above’ + ‘to send, release’ → surmise
Journey through time
- sur — Latin super- “over, above” (path traced)
- mise — Latin mittō, mīsī, missum “to send, release” (path traced)
Parts join in Latin as super.
- Latinsuper- + mittere‘over, above + to send, release’source
- Latinsuper‘upon, above’source
- Old Frenchmeaning shiftsupon, above → an accusationsurmise‘an accusation’source
- Frenchsursource
- Englishmeaning shiftsan accusation → suppose something without firm evidencesurmise‘suppose something without firm evidence’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin super, which Skeat (Concise Dictionary, 1911) analyses as super- ‘over, above’ + mittere ‘to send, release’.
Roots
- mittō, mīsī, missum Latin “to send, release”
- super Latin “above”
Related words
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