Etimology
From Middle English gessen (verb) and Middle English gesse (noun), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitisōną (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Danish gisse (“to guess”), Norwegian gissa, gjette (“to guess”), Swedish gissa (“to guess”), Saterland Frisian gisje (“to guess”), Dutch gissen (“to guess”), Low German gissen (“to guess”), Dutch gis (“a guess”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitiskōną). Compare also Russian гада́ть (gadátʹ, “to conjecture, guess, divine”), Albanian gjëzë (“riddle”) from gjej (“find, recover, obtain”). More at get.
verb
guess (third-person singular simple present guesses, present participle guessing, simple past and past participle guessed)
To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
(chiefly US) to suppose, to imagine (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
(colloquial) To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".
(obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.
Examples
We can only guess at what was going through her mind.
She guessed that the delivery driver must have got stuck in traffic.
He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
You guessed the right answer!
You will never guess what happened next.
That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
Not all together; better far, I guess, / That we do make our entrance several ways.
But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.
"Are you a member of the union?""Sure.""Then you'll get your job, I guess. Have you any friends?"
"I guess you were right." "What did he say?" "He guesses you were right."
"I guess I'll go to bed."
Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.
Related words
synonyms
assume
conjecture
hypothesize
speculate
suppose
surmise
take a stab
noun
guess (plural guesses)
A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.
Examples
Synonyms: estimate, hypothesis, prediction
If you don't know the answer, take a guess.
"But I shall have eleven guesses," answered Ozma. "Surely I ought to guess one object in eleven correctly; and, if I do, I shall rescue one of the royal family and be safe myself. Then the rest of you may attempt it, and soon we shall free all those who are enslaved."
We are twelve billion light years from the edge / That's a guess