inference

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin inferentia,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} from Latin inferēns (“bringing in”), the present participle of īnferō (“to bring in; to conclude, deduce”),^[2][3][5][7] from in- (“in”) and ferō (“to carry, bear”),^[2][9] from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry”).^[2][9] The OED finds the medieval Latin word in Abelard, used in place of classical illātiō, and compares Italian inferenza, recorded by Florio in 1611.^[3] Johnson (1755) took the English word from French as well as from the verb infer.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of inferring, drawing a conclusion from known or assumed facts: 1593, in Richard Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.^[3] The OED's first edition and Merriam-Webster give 1594,^[11][6] and Etymonline the 1590s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Within twenty years the word passed from the act to its result: by 1612, in Bacon's Essays, an inference was also the conclusion drawn, and so an implication, the conclusion one is meant to draw.^[3][2] A rare sense, what a thing brings in its train, appears in 1673.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave only "conclusion drawn from previous arguments", quoting Glanvill.^[10] Collins notes that in logic it also names the particular mode of reasoning used, such as deduction or induction,^[12] and since 1962 it has also named a rule allowing inferences of a given form.^[3] From 1960 it was used of a computer's simulated reasoning, and later especially of the working of a trained artificial intelligence system.^[3]

Timeline

• 1593 – the action or process of inferring.^[3] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1594.^[6]
• 1612 – a conclusion drawn from data or premises; an implication.^[3][2]
• 1673 – what a thing leads to or brings with it (obsolete, rare).^[3]
• 1960 – conclusions drawn by a computer program.^[3]
• 1962 – in logic, a rule permitting inferences of a set form.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of inferring: reaching a conclusion from facts, evidence or premises; in logic, passing from statements taken as true to another that follows from them: Her case rested on inference rather than direct evidence.^[12][6][3]
2. A conclusion reached in this way: The obvious inference was that the letter had been forged.^[12][3]
3. (logic) The particular form of reasoning used, such as deduction or induction, or a rule allowing a conclusion of a given form.^[12][3]
4. (computing) The drawing of conclusions by a computer program, in later use especially by a trained artificial intelligence model.^[3]

Word family

• inferential
• misinference

Related words

• infer
• illation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins