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: 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.
Borrowed from Classical Persian بَلْکِه (balki). Cognate with Kyrgyz балки (balki), Bashkir бәлки (bəlki), Uzbek balki, Azerbaijani bəlkə, Turkish belki, etc.