essay

English edit

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essay

Etymology 1 edit

Since late 16th century, borrowed from Middle French essay, essai (“essay”), meaning coined by Montaigne in the same time, from the same words in earlier meanings 'experiment; assay; attempt', from Old French essay, essai, assay, assai, from Latin exagium (“weight; weighing, testing on the balance”), from exigere + -ium.

Pronunciation edit

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.eɪ/ (1), IPA^(key): /ɛˈseɪ/ (2-4)
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛseɪ
Homophone: ese

Noun edit

essay (plural essays)

(authorship) A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject.
- 2013 January, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 9 February 2017, page 64:
  In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.”
(obsolete) A test, experiment; an assay.
(now rare) An attempt.
- 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 16:
  My first essay at getting employment was fruitless; but after no small number of mortifying rebuffs from various parties to whom I applied for assistance, I was at last rewarded by a comparative success.
- 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 455:
  This was Lee's first essay in the kind of offensive-defensive strategy that was to become his hallmark.
(philately, finance) A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote.

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

written composition

Albanian: ese (sq) f
Arabic: مَقَالَة f (maqāla), بَحْث (ar) m (baḥṯ)
Armenian: շարադրություն (hy) (šaradrutʻyun), էսսե (hy) (ēsse)
Assamese: ৰচনা (rosona)
Azerbaijani: esse (az), inşa, oçerk, məqalə (az)
Bashkir: инша (inşa) (in high school)
Belarusian: твор m (tvor), эсэ́ n (esé), на́рыс m (nárys)
Bengali: প্রবন্ধ (bn) (probondho)
Bulgarian: есе́ (bg) n (esé), съчине́ние (bg) n (sǎčinénie), о́черк (bg) m (óčerk)
Burmese: စာစီစာကုံး (my) (cacicakum:), စာတမ်းငယ် (my) (catam:ngai)
Catalan: redacció (ca) f
Chinese:
Cantonese: 作文 (zok³ man^4-2)

Mandarin: 雜文／杂文 (zh) (záwén), 論文／论文 (zh) (lùnwén), 作文 (zh) (zuòwén)
Czech: esej (cs) m
Danish: essay (da) n, stil (da) c
Dutch: essay (nl) n, opstel (nl) n, essai n
Esperanto: eseo
Estonian: essee
Finnish: essee (fi), kirjoitelma (fi); aine (fi), ainekirjoitus (fi) (in school)
French: essai (fr) m, rédaction (fr) f, dissertation (fr) f
Galician: ensaio m
Georgian: ესე (ese), თხზულება (txzuleba)
German: Aufsatz (de) m, Essay (de) n
Greek: δοκίμιο (el) n (dokímio), πραγματεία (el) f (pragmateía), έκθεση (el) f (ékthesi), σύγγραμα n (sýngrama)
Ancient Greek: μελετήματα f (meletḗmata)
Hebrew: מַסָּה (he) f (masá)
Hindi: निबंध (hi) m (nibandh), मज़मून m (mazmūn)
Hungarian: esszé (hu)
Icelandic: ritgerð (is) f
Ido: esayo (io)
Indonesian: esai (id)
Irish: aiste f
Italian: saggio (it) m, ricerca (it) f, studio (it) m
Japanese: エッセイ (ja) (essei), 随筆 (ja) (ずいひつ, zuihitsu)
Kazakh: эссе (ésse), шығарма (kk) (şyğarma), очерк (oçerk), мақала (kk) (maqala)
Khmer: អត្ថបទ (ʼatthaʼbɑt)
Korean: 수필(隨筆) (ko) (supil), 에세이 (esei)
Kyrgyz: эссе (esse), дилбаян (dilbayan), очерк (ocerk)
Latin: meditatio, meletemata
Latvian: eseja f
Lithuanian: esė f
Macedonian: есеј m (esej)
Malagasy: lahateny, kabary (mg), famelabelaran-kevitra
Malay: karangan (ms)
Malayalam: ഉപന്യാസം (ml) (upanyāsaṁ)
Maori: tuhingaroa
Norwegian:
Bokmål: essay n
Pashto: مقاله f (maqāla)
Persian: مقاله (fa) (maqâle), جستار (fa) (jostâr)
Polish: esej (pl) m, wypracowanie (pl) n, rozprawka f
Portuguese: ensaio (pt) m, redação (pt) f
Romanian: eseu (ro) n
Russian: сочине́ние (ru) n (sočinénije), эссе́ (ru) n (essɛ́), о́черк (ru) m (óčerk)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ѐсе̄ј m

Roman: èsēj (sh) m
Slovak: esej (sk) m
Slovene: esej m
Spanish: ensayo (es) m, redacción (es) f
Swahili: insha (sw) class n
Swedish: uppsats (sv) c, essä (sv) c
Tagalog: sanaysay
Tajik: мақола (tg) (maqola), навиштор (navištor), иншо (inšo)
Tatar: инша (tt) (inşa)
Telugu: వ్యాసము (te) (vyāsamu)
Thai: ความเรียง (th) (kwaam-riiang)
Turkish: deneme (tr), kompozisyon (tr)
Ukrainian: есе́ n (esé), есе́й m (eséj), твір (uk) m (tvir), на́рис m (nárys)
Urdu: مَقالَہ (maqālā), اِنشائِیَہ (inśāiyā), مَضْمُون (ur) m (mazmūn)
Uyghur: ماقالە (ug) (maqale)
Uzbek: insho (uz), esse (uz), ocherk (uz), maqola (uz)
Vietnamese: tiểu luận (vi)
Welsh: traethawd (cy) m, ysgrif (cy) f
Yiddish: עסיי m (esey)
Yoruba: àròkọ

an attempt — see attempt,‎ try,‎ assay

Etymology 2 edit

From Middle French essayer, essaier, from Old French essaiier, essayer, essaier, assaiier, assayer, assaier, from essay, essai, assay, assai (“attempt; assay; experiment”) as above.

Pronunciation edit

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /ɛˈseɪ/

Verb edit

essay (third-person singular simple present essays, present participle essaying, simple past and past participle essayed)

(dated, transitive) To attempt or try.
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter II, in The House Behind the Cedars:
  He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open.
- 1950 April, R. A. H. Weight, “They Passed by My Window”, in Railway Magazine, page 260:
  The train took the slow to branch spur at the north end at a not much slower speed, then essayed the short sharply curved climb with a terrific roar, smoke rising straight from the chimney to a height of some 60 ft., the long train twisting and curling behind.
(intransitive) To move forth, as into battle.

Translations edit

to try — see try

Anagrams edit

Sayes, Seays, Sesay, eyass

Dutch edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English essay (“essay”), from Middle French essai (“essay; attempt, assay”), from Old French essai, from Latin exagium (whence the neuter gender).