means A conclusion reached by reasoning from evidence or premises rather than from direct observation.

from From Latin inferre, 'to bring in' or 'carry forward' — built from in- ('into') plus ferre ('to carry,' a deep root that also gives us 'transfer' and 'fertile'). The medieval Latin noun inferentia carried the sense of one thing being 'brought in' as the logical result of another, and the word reached English by the late 16th century. So an inference is, quite literally, something you carry forward into your mind from what's already in front of you.