Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Hypothesis
A proposed explanation to be tested.
The Greek roots
ὑπό
hypó
under
θέσις
thésis
a placing
Literally: “a placing under”
The story of the word
The foundation 'placed under' an argument — the groundwork you set down before testing it.
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
In a sentence
The experiment was designed to test one hypothesis.