English edit

Etymology edit

From essay +‎ -er.

Noun edit

essayer (plural essayers)

  1. (obsolete) One who performs an essay; an experimenter.

French edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Middle French essayer, essaier, from Old French essaiier, essayer, essaier, from essay, essai (attempt; assay; experiment) + -er (infinitive-forming suffix), from Late Latin exagium (weight; weighing, testing on the balance), from Latin exigere + -ium, from ex- + agere, from Proto-Italic *agō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /e.sɛ.je/, /e.se.je/
  • (file)

Verb edit

essayer

  1. (transitive) to test, to try on
    Essayez cette chemise.Try this shirt on.
  2. (catenative) to try, to attempt
    J’ai essayé d’apprendre le piano.I tried to learn [to play] the piano.
    Des psychologues ont essayé d’analyser quels traits physiques étaient considérés comme attirants.Psychologists have tried to analyze what physical traits were considered to be attractive.
    • 2018, Zaz, Résigne-moi:
      J’essaie vraiment d’ t’aider sans m’oublier.
      I'm truly trying to help you without forgetting myself.
  3. (reflexive, transitive with à) to try one's hand at
    s’essayer à quelque choseto try one's hand at something

Conjugation edit

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer, the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Paronyms edit

Anagrams edit

Middle French edit

Verb edit

essayer

  1. (transitive) to test
  2. (with "de") to try

Conjugation edit

  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Noun edit

essayer n

  1. indefinite singular of essay

Synonyms edit