speculate

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin speculātus, past participle of speculor (“look out”), from specula (“watchtower”), from speciō (“look at”).

verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To think, meditate or reflect on a subject; to consider, to deliberate or cogitate.
2. (intransitive) To make an inference based on inconclusive evidence; to surmise or conjecture.
   We can speculate that in many instances the sharks are not feeding on their victims, but only in a few cases can we guess what they are doing. 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, page 171
   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
3. (intransitive, business, finance) To make a risky trade in the hope of making a profit; to venture or gamble.
4. (intransitive, programming) To anticipate which branch of code will be chosen and execute it in advance.