the.com/aim

means To point or direct something — a weapon, an effort, a remark — at a specific target before letting it go.

from From Old French 'esmer' or 'aesmer', meaning to estimate or calculate, which traces back to Latin 'aestimare' — the same root that gives us 'estimate'. Somewhere along the way the sense narrowed from general reckoning to the specific act of sighting a target, as if taking aim is just estimating distance with your whole body.