推测
tuīcè · HSK 7
infer
🔍 推 push + 测 measure: you push a measurement outward to infer a guess
推 (tuī) means push or deduce; 测 (cè) means measure or gauge. Pushing a measurement beyond what you can see is exactly conjecture: inferring an unknown from known data.
推 — hand radical 扌 + 隹 (short-tailed bird)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning 'to push' or act with the hand, while 隹 supplies the sound (originally close to 'tui'). The core sense has stayed remarkably stable, expanding from physical pushing to figurative uses like 'recommend' or 'infer'.
测 — water radical 氵 + 则 (rule/standard)
测 combines the water radical 氵, hinting at meaning, with 则 (rule, standard), which also supplies the sound. Originally it referred to gauging the depth of water, then broadened to mean measuring, surveying, or testing in general.