Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Estimation has 5 different meanings across 1 category:
a document appraising the value of something (as for insurance or taxation)
"The insurance company required an official estimation to determine the replacement cost of the damaged building before issuing coverage."
the respect with which a person is held
"they had a high estimation of his ability"
an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth
"an estimate of what it would cost"
"a rough idea how long it would take"
a judgment of the qualities of something or somebody
"many factors are involved in any estimate of human life"
"in my estimation the boy is innocent"
The process of making an estimate.
"The estimation of project costs took several weeks because so many variables were unknown."
In plain English: Estimation is an approximate guess about how much something costs, measures, or will take to finish when you don't have all the exact details yet.
"The project will be completed based on our initial estimation that it requires six weeks to finish."
The word estimation comes from the Latin aestimatio, which entered English through Middle and Old French forms of the same root. It originally referred to the act of assessing value or worth before evolving into its modern sense of forming an opinion based on known facts.