retrodict

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The Word of the Day for April 7 is:

retrodict   \reh-truh-DIKT\    verb
     : to utilize present information or ideas to infer or 
explain  (a past event or state of affairs)

Example sentence:
     Geologists have retrodicted the positions of the continents 
millions of years ago.

Did you know? 
     We predict that you will guess the correct origins 
of "retrodict," and chances are we will not contradict you. 
English speakers had started using "predict" by at least the 
early 17th century; it's a word formed by combining "prae-" 
(meaning "before") and "dicere" (meaning "to say"). Since the 
rough translation of "predict" is "to say before," it's no 
surprise that when people in the 1950s wanted a word 
for "predicting" the past, they created it by combining the word 
for "backward" ("retro-") with the "-dict" of "predict." 
Other "dicere" descendants in English 
include "contradict," "benediction," "dictate," "diction," "inter
dict," "malediction," and, of course, "dictionary."