Hypothesis. This term, from the Greek, means literally a supposition, i.e., something that is "put under". Al though it has been used in several somewhat different ways in the history of philosophy, it has always retained its basic meaning, i.e., it is a proposal to accept an assertion, either for lack of any clear evidence for or against it, or simply by way of establishing what it is that one is to try by experiment to verify or falsify. For example, the hypothesis that the earth is round rather than flat could not at first be verified or falsified by experiment (although astronomers in antiquity had calculated that it was round and had estimated its diameter to within fifty miles of what is known today), but eventually it was verified, through the circumnavigation of our planet. The making of hypotheses is an essential first step in the advancement of human knowledge by inductive methods. The criteria for verification and falsification must vary according to the subject matter and the nature of the enterprise. For example, the methods used and criteria required for proof that in a vacuum all bodies fall with equal speed will not be identical to the methods used and the criteria required to verify or falsify, say, a hypothesis that people living in a rural area are happier than those living in an urban one. One may treat articles of religious belief as hypotheses, but, if so, the methods and criteria proper to their verification or falsification will certainly be very different from those demanded in chemistry or physics.

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989

hypothesis : (m.) saṅkappanāyatta; pakappita.

A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera, Concise Pali-English and English-Pali Dictionary [available as digital version from Metta Net, Sri Lanka]