推し量る・推し測る|おしはかるoshihakaru[4]nakadaka (mid-high)
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Which spelling to use
推し量る推し量る is the most common written form and combines kanji and kana. It is the form beginners should use.
推し測る推し測る is a less common kanji-and-kana variant than 推し量る. Beginners should normally choose 推し量る instead.
Definitions
- godan verb, transitive verbto guess; to conjecture; to surmise
Conjugation
| Dictionary form | 推し量る（おしはかる） |
|---|---|
| Polite (masu) | 推し量ります（おしはかります） |
| Negative (nai) | 推し量らない（おしはからない） |
| polite (masen) | 推し量りません（おしはかりません） |
| classical zu / nu | 推し量らず・推し量らぬ（おしはからず・おしはからぬ） |
| Past (ta) | 推し量った（おしはかった） |
| polite (mashita) | 推し量りました（おしはかりました） |
| Past negative (nakatta) | 推し量らなかった（おしはからなかった） |
| polite (masen deshita) | 推し量りませんでした（おしはかりませんでした） |
| Te form | 推し量って（おしはかって） |
| Potential | 推し量れる（おしはかれる） |
| Passive | 推し量られる（おしはかられる） |
| Causative | 推し量らせる（おしはからせる） |
| Causative passive | 推し量らせられる・推し量らされる（おしはからせられる・おしはからされる） |
| Conditional (ba) | 推し量れば（おしはかれば） |
| tara | 推し量ったら（おしはかったら） |
| Volitional | 推し量ろう（おしはかろう） |
| polite (mashou) | 推し量りましょう（おしはかりましょう） |
| Imperative | 推し量れ（おしはかれ） |
Common forms generated by rule; see the senses for honorific or irregular usage.
Synonyms & antonyms
- Synonym推測すいそくNeutralThe everyday default for conjecture: objective and analytical, as in 「原因を推測する」. 「推し量る」 is a native Japanese verb focused on reading someone's feelings.
- Synonym推量すいりょうWrittenWritten word for conjecture, also used as a grammar term; 「推し量る」 is the more colloquial option.
- Synonym推察すいさつWrittenWritten word for surmising circumstances or another person's feelings, as in 「事情を推察する」 or 「ご推察の通り」.
- Synonym推定すいていWrittenPresuming a fact from the circumstances; leans legal or statistical, as in 「推定年齢」.
- Synonym推論すいろんWrittenWritten word for logical inference or deduction, as in 「推論を立てる」; rigorous in tone.
- Synonym忖度そんたくWrittenWritten word for reading someone's mind; in recent years it often means anticipating—and pandering to—a superior's wishes.
- Synonym推知すいちWrittenWritten word for inferring something and thereby knowing it; rare—usually say 「推し量る」.
- Synonym拝察はいさつFormalFormal humble term for surmising the other party's situation; used mostly in letters.
- Synonym賢察けんさつFormalFormal honorific for the other party's discernment, as in 「ご賢察ください」.
- Synonym臆度おくたくWrittenWritten word for groundless conjecture; rare in modern use.
- Synonym揣摩しまWrittenWritten word seen mostly in the set phrase 「揣摩憶測」, wild and unfounded guessing.
- Synonym推考すいこうWrittenWritten word for surmising or speculating; rare.
- Related思うおもうNeutralThe most general verb for thinking or feeling that something is so; it does not emphasize the process of inference.
- RelatedみなすNeutralMeans regarding or treating something as such, with the focus on the judgment made; in legal usage, to deem.
- Related想像そうぞうNeutralAn everyday word for imagining: building a picture in your head that need not rest on evidence, whereas 「推し量る」 works from what is already known.
- Related類推るいすいWrittenWritten word for reasoning by analogy—inferring one thing from something similar, as in 「類推適用」.
- Related憶測おくそくNeutralGuessing on shaky or unreliable grounds, as in 「憶測を呼ぶ」; often carries a negative tone.
- Related予測よそくNeutralPredicting things ahead of time; future-oriented, as in 「需要予測」.
- Related計り知るはかりしるWrittenWritten word used mostly in the negative, 「計り知れない」, meaning immeasurable or beyond reckoning.
- Related勘ぐるかんぐるCasualColloquial verb for suspecting people's motives, with a nuance of reading ill will into things.
- Antonym断定するWrittenAntonym: to conclude or assert definitively, the opposite of tentatively guessing as 「推し量る」 does.
Use 「推測」 for plain, objective conjecture; use 「推し量る」 to read someone's feelings or infer the unknown from the known, as in 「相手の気持ちを推し量る」. 「拝察」 is the humble formal choice, and the antonym 「断定する」 means to conclude definitively. Among the written words, 「推量」 and 「推察」 are formal surmise, 「推定」 leans legal or statistical, and 「推論」 and 「類推」 are logical or analogical inference. Of the everyday nouns, 「憶測」 is speculation on shaky grounds, 「予測」 looks to the future, and 「想像」 is imagination.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese definitions
Kanji in this word
See also
