推定
すいてい · suitei · JLPT N2 · noun
given
🧮 推 (push ahead) + 定 (settle) = reasoning pushed ahead to a settled guess
推 pushes forward from known facts and 定 fixes the conclusion, so 推定 is a conclusion settled before full proof. Japanese law uses it for a presumed fact.
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'.
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'