Agency Dictionary
essayist
nounPronunciation: /ˈes.eɪ.ɪst/
In Portuguese: ensaísta
Writing & NarrativeWhat does “essayist” mean?
A writer of essays: short prose texts in which an author examines a subject from a personal point of view, without the aim of exhausting it.
Etymology
From essay and the suffix -ist, in use since around 1600. Essay comes from Middle French essai, "trial, attempt", from Late Latin exagium, "a weighing", from exigere in its sense of weighing and testing. Michel de Montaigne gave the title Essais to the prose pieces he published in 1580, in which he tried out his judgment on a subject, and Francis Bacon took up the name in English for his Essays of 1597.
Usage note
Assay, the testing of a metal or a substance, is the same French word in another spelling and keeps the older sense of trial.
Synonyms
- prose writer
- writer
- critic
- columnist
Word family
- essay
- essayistic
- assay
Usage examples
Philosophers, essayists, and writers sometimes adopt this style to present their ideas in a condensed and impactful manner.
Writing.2 - Aphorisms
Concept
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
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