surmise

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English surmisen (“to allege, charge”),^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French surmis, feminine surmise, the past participle of surmettre (“to accuse”),^{[5][3][4][6][7]} from sur- (“upon”) and mettre (“to put”),^[4][3][6] from Latin mittō (“to send”).^[4][3][6] Several dictionaries take the French verb from Late Latin supermittō, which is formed from super- and the same Latin verb,^{[8][9][10][11][12]} and Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls this probable.^[13] The noun is borrowed from Anglo-Norman surmise (“accusation”) and Old French, a noun use of the same past participle.^[5][4][3][8] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate and Partridge derive the verb from the noun,^[14][15] while the OED and Barnhart take each directly from French.^[5][3] Anglo-Norman has the noun from 1237–40 for a formal allegation, and the verb from the first third of the 12th century, already also for assuming and alleging.^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

To charge or allege, chiefly in law: about 1400, in the Tale of Beryn, which the OED dates from a copy of about 1460.^[5][3][4] The Middle English Dictionary's first record is from 1460.^[2] Barnhart dates the noun, a charge or accusation, to 1419,^[3] and the OED to 1451.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Partridge explains the move from a legal accusation to mere supposition by noting that an accusation implies a supposition of guilt.^[15] Weekley places the change in the 16th century,^[17] and the OED records both "suspicion" for the noun and "suppose, imagine" for the verb from 1509.^[5] An unfounded charge is recorded from 1531,^[5] and the noun for a conjecture from 1590.^[5][3] Etymonline says the 1580s.^[4] Johnson (1755) defines the noun as "imperfect notion; suspicion; imagination not supported by knowledge".^[18] The verb's modern sense, to infer on slight evidence, is dated to 1700 by Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged, probably from the noun,^[3][4][13] but the Shorter Oxford has it from the late 16th century.^[8] The phrase wild surmise comes from Keats's sonnet on Chapman's Homer.^[17][4]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – verb, to charge or allege.^[5][3][4]
• 1419 – noun, a charge or accusation.^[3] The OED's first record, a formal allegation in law, is from 1451.^[5]
• 1509 – noun, a suspicion; verb, to suppose or expect, and to devise or plot.^[5]
• 1531 – noun, a false or unproved charge.^[5]
• 1586 – noun, a slight trace; verb, to form an idea of.^[5]
• 1590 – noun, a conjecture.^[5][3]
• 1700 – verb, to infer or guess on slight evidence.^[3][4][13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To infer or guess something without firm evidence: From the empty cups, she surmised that the guests had left.^[10][13]
2. (obsolete, c. 1460–1623) To charge or allege, especially formally in law.^[5][8][2]
3. (obsolete, 1509–1632) To plan or contrive, especially falsely or maliciously.^[5][8]
4. (obsolete, 1509–1725) To suppose or expect.^[5][8]

Noun

1. An idea formed without proof or certainty; a conjecture: His surmise about the missing letter turned out to be right.^[10][5][8]
2. (archaic) A suspicion.^[13][5]
3. (obsolete, 1451–1713) In law, a formal allegation.^[5][8]
4. (obsolete, 1531–1660) An unfounded charge.^[5][13][8]
5. (obsolete, 1586–1837) A slight trace of something.^[5][8][13]

Word family

• surmisable
• surmiser
• presurmise
• unsurmised
• unsurmising

Related words

• mission
• surprise

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
16. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
17. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.