Wordwyrt

assay

/ˈæsi/A-see
/ˈæsi/A-see

Meaningweighing

Common meaning: test a substance to find its composition

Journey through time

  1. Latinexagium‘weighing’source
  2. Old Frenchmeaning shiftsweighing → trialessai‘trial’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftstrial → test a substance to find its compositionassay‘test a substance to find its composition’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin exagium ‘weighing’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry ASSAY, p. 38 · dictionary scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app