different between discern vs guess

English

Etymology

From Middle English discernen, from Old French discerner, from Latin discernere (“to separate, divide, distinguish, discern”), from dis- (“apart”) + cernere (“to separate”); see certain.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -??(?)n

(modern pronunciation)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??s??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d??s?n/

(older pronunciation)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??z??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d??z?n/

Verb

discern (third-person singular simple present discerns, present participle discerning, simple past and past participle discerned)

1. (transitive) To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.
2. (transitive) To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind; to descry.
3. (transitive) To distinguish something as being different from something else; to differentiate.

4. (intransitive) To perceive differences.

Synonyms

• (detect with the senses): See also Thesaurus:perceive
  • (especially with the eyes): behold, see; see also Thesaurus:see
• (perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind): ken, spy; see also Thesaurus:spot
• (distinguish something as being different): discriminate, distinguish; see also Thesaurus:tell apart

Derived terms

• discernible
• discernment
• indiscernible

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Cinders, cinders, rescind

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: g?s, IPA^(key): /??s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English gessen, probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitis?n? (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getan? (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?ed- (“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”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitisk?n?). Compare also Russian ??????? (gadát?, “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)

1. To reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.
2. To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.

3. (chiefly US) to suppose (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
   • 1714, Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace

     But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.
4. (colloquial) To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".

5. (obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.

Synonyms

• hypothesize
• take a stab
• speculate
• assume

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English gesse. Cognate with Dutch gis (“a guess”).

Noun

guess (plural guesses)

1. A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.

   Synonyms: estimate, hypothesis, prediction

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• guess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• guess in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Guses