Speculate 是一个与小站（微信公众号：田间小站）之前推送过的immaculate有着相同结尾的单词。该词逆构自名词 speculation （猜测；投机），于16世纪末出现在英语中后，先是作动词表示“猜测、推测、推断”，主要指在前提不确定或数据不完整等不具备确凿证据的情况下，对某个对象推理形成假设性或理论性的结论，常用搭配 speculate about/on sth ，

比如：

His sudden resignation put his colleagues in a spin. We all speculated about the reasons for his resignation.他的突然辞职令同事们不知所措。我们大家都推测过他辞职的原因。

The doctors speculate that he died of a cerebral haemorrhage caused by a blow on the head.医生们推测他死于头部受击引起的脑溢血。

He made his money speculating on the London gold and silver markets. He had a natural flair for business.除了猜测原因以外，人们也常常推测结果。特别是推断出市场上某个买卖将会产生利润后，就会把握机会进场交易。因此等到了1785年后， speculate 也随着 speculation 开始用来表示“投机、做投机买卖”，主要指冒着亏损的风险，购买商品、股票、房地产等风险投资，期望以更高的价格再次出售，从而赚取利润，常用搭配 speculate in/on sth ，比如：他靠在伦敦黄金市场和白银市场上做投机生意发了财。他有做生意的天分。

Big farmers are moving in, not in order to farm, but in order to speculate with rising land prices.大农场主正在不断涌进来，不是为了耕作，而是要利用不断上涨的地价进行投机。