estimation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English estimacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French estimacion (“evaluation, value; calculation, planning”),^[5][6][7][8] and directly borrowed from Latin aestimātiō (“a valuation”),^[3][9][10] from aestimō (“to value, appraise”),^[5][2][10] the source also of esteem and estimate.^[5][10][7] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1271–72, for an estimate, a valuation and a calculation.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Manner of judging; opinion: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[6][7] An award of 1375 already has by estimacion, at an estimated value.^[3] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English give an early sense "comprehension, intuition", found only in late Middle English.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In 1382 the Wycliffite Bible used the word for appraising or valuing something, a sense that lasted until the late 18th century,^[6][9] and in Trevisa (1398) it named the faculty of judgement.^[6] The sense of forming a rough idea of a number or quantity without counting or measuring is recorded from about 1400, in Mandeville.^[6][5] From 1530 it also meant esteem or appreciation, as in to hold in estimation, and, passively, repute.^[6][5] Johnson (1755) listed four senses: the act of adjusting proportional value, calculation, opinion, and esteem.^[12] Of these, opinion, esteem and the act of estimating remain in use.^[13][2]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – manner of judging; opinion, in Chaucer.^[6][7]
• 1382 – valuation; a statement of price (obsolete by 1792).^[6]
• 1398 – judgement as a faculty of the mind (obsolete by 1509).^[6]
• c. 1400 – forming an approximate idea of numbers or quantities.^[6][5]
• 1530 – esteem, appreciation; repute.^[6][5]
• 1598 – conjecture, guessing, in Shakespeare (rare, obsolete).^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A considered opinion or judgment: In the coach's estimation, the team was not yet ready.^[13][2][6]
2. Esteem or respect: Her courage raised her in our estimation.^[13][6]
3. The act or process of estimating; a rough calculation of a number, size or value.^[13][2][6]
4. (obsolete, 1382–1792) Valuation; a statement of price or value.^[6][9][12]

Word family

• reestimation

Related words

• esteem
• estimable

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins