essayer
French, verb/e.sɛ.je/
essayer is spelled E-S-S-A-Y-E-R (7 letters) and appears 87 times per million words in written French, the 964th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Essayer is a French verb meaning “to test, to try on” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Mettre à l’essai ; vérifier le bon fonctionnement”.
What does essayer mean in English?
verb
- 1
to test, to try on
Essayez cette chemise.
- 2
to try, to attempt
J'ai essayé d'apprendre le piano.
- 3
to try one's hand
s'essayer à quelque chose
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Mettre à l’essai ; vérifier le bon fonctionnement. 2. Porter un vêtement ou un accessoire pour vérifier s’il convient, s’il est à la bonne taille. 3. Vérifier la composition et le titre de certains produits. 4. Tenter ; oser.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of essayer
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- essayant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- essayé participle past
- essaye first-person indicative present
- essaie first-person indicative present
- essayes indicative present second-person
- essaies indicative present second-person
- essayons first-person indicative plural
- essayez indicative plural present
- essayent indicative plural present
- essaient indicative plural present
- essayais first-person imperfect indicative
- essayait imperfect indicative singular
- essayions first-person imperfect indicative
- essayiez imperfect indicative plural
- essayaient imperfect indicative plural
- essayai first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce essayer?
- /e.sɛ.je/
- /e.se.je/
- \e.se.je\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to essayer
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is essayer in French?
essayer appears 87 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).