köken: From Vulgar Latin quī sapit (“who knows”). Cognate with Spanish and Galician quizá, Portuguese quiçá. By surface analysis, univerbation of chi + sa, literally “who knows”.
maybe; perhaps; probably (expresses a possibility or assumption)
köken: From Middle Persian šʾ(d)yt’ (šāyēd, “one can, it is possible”), grammaticalized form of the third person singular indicative form of the verb šʾd-stn’ (šāyistan, “to be able, to be worthy”) (whence Persian شایستن (šāyistan)), further from Proto-Iranian *xšáyati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kšáyati (“he rules, he has power over”) (whence Sanskrit क्षयति (kṣáyati)), probably from Proto-Indo-European…
köken: Borrowed from Classical Persian بَلْکِه (balki). Cognate with Kyrgyz балки (balki), Bashkir бәлки (bəlki), Uzbek balki, Azerbaijani bəlkə, Turkish belki, etc.
köken: From Middle Dutch misscien, meschien, maschien, short for (het) mach schien (“(it) may happen”), equivalent to mag + geschieden. Compare with Danish måske.
köken: Shortened from találom (“I think, I believe”, literally “I find it [to be in some way]”), the first-person present tense form of the verb talál (“to find”). Compare hiszen.