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Origin and history of deduce

deduce(v.)

early 15c., deducen, "to show, prove, demonstrate;" late 15c., "to deduct," from Latin deducere "lead down, derive" (in Medieval Latin, "infer logically"), from de "down" (see de-) + ducere "to lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead"). The usual modern sense of "draw a conclusion from something already known" is first recorded 1520s, from Medieval Latin. Related: Deduced; deducing.

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to deduce

deduct(v.)

early 15c., "to take away, separate, or remove in estimating or counting," from Latin deductus, past participle of deducere "lead down, bring away;" see deduce, with which it formerly was interchangeable. Deduct refers to taking away portions or amounts; subtract to taking away numbers. Related: Deducted; deducting.

Deduct is to lead away, set aside, in a general or distributive sense; subtract, to draw off, remove, in a literal or collective sense. In settling a mercantile account, certain items, as charges, losses, etc. are deducted by being added together and their total subtracted from the grand total of the transaction. [Century Dictionary]
de-

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

*deuk-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to lead."

It might form all or part of: abduce; abducent; abduct; abduction; adduce; aqueduct; circumduction; conduce; conducive; conduct; conductor; conduit; deduce; deduction; dock (n.1) "ship's berth;" doge; douche; ducal; ducat; Duce; duchess; duchy; duct; ductile; duke (n.); educate; education; induce; induction; introduce; introduction; misconduct; produce; production; reduce; reduction; seduce; seduction; subduce; subduction; taut; team (n.); teem (v.1) "abound, swarm, be prolific;" tie (n.); tow (v.); traduce; transducer; tug; Zugzwang.

It might also be the source of: Latin dux (genitive ducis) "leader, commander," in Late Latin "governor of a province," ducere "to lead;" Old English togian "to pull, drag," teonteon "to pull, drag;" German Zaum "bridle," ziehen "to draw, pull, drag;" Middle Welsh dygaf "I draw."

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    infer
    in logic, "to 'bring in' as a conclusion of a process of reasoning," 1520s, from Latin inferre "bring into, carry in; deduce, infer, conclude, draw an inference; bring against," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + ferre "to carry, to bear," from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry
    derive
    late 14c., "descend from," from Old French deriver "to flow, pour out; derive, originate," from Latin derivare "to lead or draw off (a stream of water) from its source" (in Late Latin also "to derive"), from phrase de rivo (de "from" + rivus "stream," from PIE root *rei- "to run,
    conclude
    Meanings "reach a mental determination, deduce; infer or determine by reason" are from late 14c., a sense also in Latin....
    monism
    a word used in philosophy and metaphysics of systems of thought which deduce all phenomena from a single principle (1832)...
    reason
    c. 1200, resoun, "the intellectual faculty that adopts actions to ends," also "statement in an argument, statement of explanation or justification," from Anglo-French resoun, Old French raison "course; matter; subject; language, speech; thought, opinion," from Latin rationem (nom
    extrapolate
    "make an approximate calculation by inferring unknown values from trends in the known data," 1862 (in a Harvard observatory account of the comet of 1858), from extra- + ending from interpolate. Said in early references to be a characteristic word of Sir George Airy (1801-1892), E
    surmise
    c. 1400, surmisen, in law, "to charge, allege, accuse" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French surmis, past participle of surmettre "to accuse," from sur- "upon" (see sur- (1)) + mettre "put," from Latin mittere "to send" (see mission). The meaning "infer conjecturally, infer or
    obsess
    c. 1500, "to besiege" (a sense now obsolete), from Latin obsessus, past participle of obsidere "watch closely; besiege, occupy; stay, remain, abide" literally "sit opposite to," from ob "against" (see ob-) + sedere "to sit," from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit." Of evil spirits, "to
    guilt
    Old English gylt "crime, sin, moral defect, failure of duty," of unknown origin, though some suspect a connection to Old English gieldan "to pay for, debt," but OED editors find this "inadmissible phonologically." The -u- is an unetymological insertion. In law, "That state of a m

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