Ideas or guesses about something without certain proof, or buying and selling something hoping to make profit from price changes.
From Latin 'speculari' (to watch, observe), from 'specula' (watchtower). It originally meant careful observation, then evolved to mean thinking about what you observed, then risky guessing.
The word came from watchtowers where observers would speculate about what ships were approaching—over time it became about speculating on prices instead of ships, which led to financial markets.
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