嘗試／試著去做
這一組就是核心本身：試一試、試著去做某件事。名詞是『一次嘗試』，動詞是『去嘗試』，語氣都偏正式書面。
an attempt · noun · B1
A try or attempt to do something.
嘗試 / 試作（正式）
核心畫面
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…更多收起
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)
Two branches
一篇文章（書面的嘗試）
把核心的『嘗試』搬到紙上：一篇 essay 就是你試著把一個題目想通、講清楚的一次書面努力。這是今天最常見的意思，但骨子裡仍是『對某題目的一次 try』。
school essay · noun · B1
A short piece of writing that a student writes about one subject as part of their schoolwork.
作文 / 短文（作業）
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，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.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。