喜樂美語

Underneath essay is the idea of a try — having a go at something, testing yourself against a task that isn't easy. That's the oldest layer. The familiar 'piece of writing' grew out of it: a written essay is really your attempt to think a subject through on paper.

可以想成 essay 底層其實是『試一試』——去試著做一件不太容易的事，一次嘗試、一次試手。這是最老的一層。我們熟悉的『一篇文章』就是從這裡長出來的：一篇 essay 其實是你『試著把一個題目想清楚』的一次書面嘗試。

From the word’s history

Essay comes from French essai 'a trial, attempt', from Late Latin exagium 'a weighing' (ex- 'out' + agere 'to drive, set in motion') — originally putting something on the scales to test it, which shifted to 'test / try', then 'attempt'. When Montaigne called his pieces essais, he meant 'attempts' at a subject, so the writing sense sits right on top of the core 'try'.

essay 來自法語 essai『試、嘗試』，再往上是晚期拉丁語 exagium『秤重』（ex-『向外』＋ agere『驅動』）——本來是把東西放上秤去量、去試，引申成『測試、試一試』，再變成『嘗試』。蒙田把自己的文章叫 essais，意思就是對一個題目的『嘗試』，所以『文章』這個意思正好疊在核心的『試』之上。

etymonline.com/word/essay — French essai 'trial, attempt', from Late Latin exagium 'a weighing'; literary sense from Montaigne (1590s)

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同家族的字

n複數 essays

v過去式 essayed過去分詞 essayed-ing essaying三單 essays

意思相反

give upabandon

原始詞典資料6 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

essaynoun詞源 1/ˈɛs.eɪ/

  • 1

    mediapublishingA written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject.

    • 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.”
  • 2

    obsoleteA test, experiment; an assay.

  • 3

    archaicAn attempt.

    • 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.
    • This was Lee's first essay in the kind of offensive-defensive strategy that was to become his hallmark.
  • 4

    businessfinancehobbiesA proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote.

essayverb詞源 2/ɛˈseɪ/

  • 1

    datedTo attempt or try.

    • Shall we essay a walk on the promenade?
    • He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open.
  • 2

    To move forth, as into battle.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。