estimate English · revision 6831

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1425|origins=la aestimo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈestɪmət/, /ˈestəmət/ ''(UK)''; /ˈestɪmɪt/, /ˈestɪmət/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|aestimatus]], the past participle of [[m|la|aestimo|alt=aestimāre|t=to value, appraise]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Cresswell 2021) which is also the source of [[esteem]].^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a noun, intellectual ability or comprehension, a sense found only in late Middle English;^(SOED 2002)^(NODE 1998) Etymonline gives ''power of the mind'' in the mid-15th century.^(Etymonline) An early form ''estimate'' was used as a participle of [[esteem]] about 1425.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The noun took the sense of a valuation in the 1560s^(Etymonline) and of an approximate judgment from the 1580s,^(Etymonline) 1630 in the OED;^(OED 1989) a builder's or tradesman's statement of projected costs is from 1796.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) In Britain ''the estimates'' are the annual accounts of probable expenditure laid before Parliament (1732).^(OED 1989) The verb, to appraise the worth of something, is from the 1530s,^(Etymonline) about 1532 in MWU;^(MWU 2024) the meaning to form an approximate notion of an amount or size is from 1669.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Older senses such as to esteem or to assign a value to have died out.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1532 – the verb, to judge or appraise.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1563 – the noun, a price or valuation.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1630 – an approximate judgment.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1669 – to calculate roughly.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1796 – a builder's statement of costs.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To calculate roughly the amount, size or value of something.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To form an opinion about; to [[evaluate]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To submit an approximate price for a job.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(statistics)'' To assign a value to a [[parameter]] on the basis of a [[sample]].^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A rough [[calculation]] of an amount or value.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A statement of the likely cost of work to be done.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A judgment or [[appraisal]] of a person or thing.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[estimative]]

+ * [[estimator]]

+ * [[estimatingly]]

+ * [[guesstimate]]

+ * [[guestimate]]

+ * [[misestimate]]

+ * [[reestimate]]

+ * [[estimable]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[esteem]]

+ * [[estimation]]

+ * [[aim]]

+ * [[appraise]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The AHD distinguishes ''estimate'', which implies a subjective, inexact judgment, from [[appraise]] and [[assess]] (an expert valuation) and [[evaluate]].^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}