essai

[e.sɛ]

/[e.sɛ]/ noun

The verdict

“essai” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #78,213 among 101,141 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,213
frequency rank, Spanish
101,141
“E” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ensayo, experimento, intento, prueba.

Key facts for essai
PropertyValue
Headwordessai
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[e.sɛ]
Letters5
Frequency rank#78,213
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “essai” sits in Spanish frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). essai lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

essai is uncommon Spanish at frequency #78,213 among 101,141 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [e.sɛ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

essai has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is essai, spelled E-S-S-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ensayo, experimento, intento, prueba.
  2. 2
    Ensayo (composición de longitud media que explora una cuestión o sujeto particular).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "essai"?
"essai" is spelled E-S-S-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is [e.sɛ].
What does "essai" mean?
As a noun, "essai" means: Ensayo, experimento, intento, prueba.
How do you pronounce "essai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "essai" is [e.sɛ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "essai" come from?
"essai" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “essai”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Spanish spelling is E-S-S-A-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [e.sɛ] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words

Other uncommon Spanish words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list