essay

See also: Essay

English

Etymology 1

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

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.eɪ/ (1), IPA^(key): /ɛˈseɪ/ (2-4)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛseɪ
• Homophone: ese

Noun

essay (plural essays)

2. (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.”

3. (obsolete) A test, experiment; an assay.
4. (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.

5. (philately, finance) A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote.

Derived terms

• argumentative essay
• automated essay scoring
• eight-legged essay
• essay mill
• essay question
• in this essay I will
• miniessay
• photo-essay
• photo essay
• video essay

 

Related terms

• assay
• essayist
• essayistic

Translations

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 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
• Marathi: निबंध (mr) m (nibandha)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: essay n

• Pashto: مقاله f (maqāla)
• Persian: مقاله (fa) (maqâle), جستار (fa) (jostâr)
• Polish: esej (pl) m, wypracowanie (pl) n, rozprawka (pl) 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, monografía (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

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

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ɛˈseɪ/

Verb

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

1. (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.

   • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎^[2], archived from the original on 22 May 2024:

     There was the counter, there was the bulletin board, above her the dull sound of music being played over headphones. Something jaunty. She liked the beat. Then the sound of a chair being pushed back, and someone humming as they walked away from her, and she darted up to plunge the bayonet into their kidneys from behind. A followup stroke through the back of the neck, and the second soldier was down. She didn't even stop to see if it was a man or a woman, young or old. There were further hurdles to essay before she reached her destination.

2. (intransitive) To move forth, as into battle.

Translations

to try — see try

Anagrams

• Sayes, Seays, Sesay, eyass

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛˈseː/, /ˈɛ.seː/
• Hyphenation: es‧say
• Rhymes: -eː

Noun

essay n (plural essays, diminutive essaytje n)

1. essay

Hypernyms

• betoog

Derived terms

• essayist

Descendants

• → Indonesian: esai

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English essay, from Middle French essai.

Noun

essay n (definite singular essayet, indefinite plural essay or essayer, definite plural essaya or essayene)

1. an essay, a written composition of moderate length exploring a particular subject

Derived terms

• essaysamling

References

• “essay” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English essay, from Middle French essai.

Noun

essay n (definite singular essayet, indefinite plural essay, definite plural essaya)

1. an essay, a written composition of moderate length exploring a particular subject

Derived terms

• essaysamling

References

• “essay” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.