guess
/ɡɛs/verb, noun
guess is spelled G-U-E-S-S: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 148 times per million words in written English, the 697th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, guess means “To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in guess?
| Letters | 5: G-U-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 148 times per million words; the 697th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is guess?
Guess appears 148 times per million words in written English, the 697th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce guess?
- /ɡɛs/
Guess has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-guess.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of guess
- guesses present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- guessing participle, present
- guessed participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does guess mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
We can only guess at what was going through her mind.
- 2
To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
- 3
To suppose, to imagine (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
- 4
colloquialTo think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".
"I guess you were right." "What did he say?" "He guesses you were right."
- 5
obsoleteTo hit upon or reproduce by memory.
noun
- 1
A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.
If you don't know the answer, take a guess.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Guess in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | deviner , déduire , supposer, imaginer , conjecture |
| German | schätzen, raten , erraten , denken, glauben, vermuten |
| Portuguese | adivinhar , deduzir , achar, supor , suposição, conjectura |
| Spanish | barruntar , cábala, adivinación, adivinamiento |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does guess come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).