estima

Estima is a term that appears in several Romance languages, most notably Spanish and Portuguese, with senses tied to value, regard, and calculation. As a noun, it commonly denotes esteem or respect, as well as an estimation or estimated value. In Portuguese, the noun estima can express esteem, as in ter estima por alguém, while in Spanish the related nouns are la estima or la estimación, depending on the context. As a verb form, estima is the third-person singular present indicative of estimar in these languages, meaning “he/she estimates,” and it can appear in the informal imperative as a command meaning “estimate.”

In statistical and mathematical usage, the English concept of an estimate is expressed with other terms in Spanish and Portuguese, such as estimación or estimador. However, in everyday language, speakers may encounter estima used as a general reference to a rough or provisional value.

Etymology and cognates: estima derives from Latin aestimare, meaning to value or appraise. Related forms exist in other Romance languages, such as French estimer and Italian stimare, reflecting a shared development of meaning around valuation and calculation. In English, the closest cognate is estimate.

In usage, estima spans both social and technical domains. It can refer to how highly a person or object is regarded, as well as to numerical or qualitative approximations used in analysis, budgeting, or decision-making. The term thus functions across linguistic, cultural, and analytical contexts as a flexible designation of value, regard, or approximation.