essay
verb/eˈseɪ/
/eˈseɪ/
(literary)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they essay | /eˈseɪ/ /eˈseɪ/ |
| he / she / it essays | /eˈseɪz/ /eˈseɪz/ |
| past simple essayed | /eˈseɪd/ /eˈseɪd/ |
| past participle essayed | /eˈseɪd/ /eˈseɪd/ |
| -ing form essaying | /eˈseɪɪŋ/ /eˈseɪɪŋ/ |
- essay something to try to do somethingWord Originlate 15th cent. (as a verb in the sense ‘test the quality of’): alteration of assay, by association with Old French essayer, based on late Latin exagium ‘weighing’, from the base of exigere ‘ascertain, weigh’; the noun (late 16th cent.) is from Old French essai ‘trial’.
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
essay