perhaps

Etymology

From Middle English perhappes, perhappous, variant of earlier perhap (“perhaps, possibly”), equivalent to per + hap (“chance, coincidence”) + -s.

adv

1. Modifies a verb, indicating a lack of certainty.
   Perhaps John will come over for dinner.
   It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […]. 2013-06-07, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36
2. (rare) By chance.
   […] will live until he dies perhaps, and then lie down in clover. c. 1850, “Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl”

noun

1. An uncertainty.
   I cannot conceive what atheism, or skepticism, or positivism could do for me now, with their negations, and endless and contradictory perhapses, and perhapses, and perhapses. 1870, The Missionary Herald, volumes 66-67, page 167