different between essay vs item

English

Etymology 1

Since late 16th century, borrowed from Middle French essay, essai (“essay”), meaning coined by Montaigne in the same time, from the same words in earlier meanings 'experiment; assay; attempt', from Old French essay, essai, assay, assai, from Latin exagium (“weight; weighing, testing on the balance”), from exigere + -ium.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /???se?/
• Rhymes: -?se?

Noun

essay (plural essays)

1. (authorship) A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject.
2. (obsolete) A test, experiment; an assay.
3. (now rare) An attempt.
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 455:

     This was Lee's first essay in the kind of offensive-defensive strategy that was to become his hallmark.

4. (philately, finance) A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote.

Derived terms

• photo essay

Related terms

• assay
• essayist
• essayistic

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French essayer, essaier, from Old French essaiier, essayer, essaier, assaiier, assayer, assaier, from essay, essai, assay, assai (“attempt; assay; experiment”) as above.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??se?/, /???se?/

Verb

essay (third-person singular simple present essays, present participle essaying, simple past and past participle essayed)

1. (dated, transitive) To try.
2. (intransitive) To move forth, as into battle.

Translations

Anagrams

• Sayes, Seays, Sesay, eyass

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English essay (“essay”), from Middle French essai (“essay; attempt, assay”), from Old French essai, from Latin exagium (whence the neuter gender).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??se?/, /??.se?/
• Hyphenation: es?say
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

essay n (plural essays, diminutive essaytje n)

1. essay

Hypernyms

• betoog

Derived terms

• essayist

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: esai

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English essay, from Middle French essai.

Noun

essay n (definite singular essayet, indefinite plural essay or essayer, definite plural essaya or essayene)

1. an essay, a written composition of moderate length exploring a particular subject

Derived terms

• essaysamling

References

• “essay” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English essay, from Middle French essai.

Noun

essay n (definite singular essayet, indefinite plural essay, definite plural essaya)

1. an essay, a written composition of moderate length exploring a particular subject

Derived terms

• essaysamling

References

• “essay” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

English

Etymology

From Middle English item, from Latin item (“also; in the same manner”). The present English meaning derives from a usage in lists, where the first entry would begin in primis (“firstly”) or imprimis, and the other entries with item (“also, moreover”). Later, people less familiar with Latin, seeing such lists, took the word "item" as meaning "a member of a list".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?t?m/
  • (US) IPA^(key): [?a????m], [?a???m?]
• Hyphenation: item

Noun

item (plural items)

1. A distinct physical object.
2. (by extension, video games) An object that can be picked up for later use.
3. A line of text having a legal or other meaning; a separate particular in an account.

4. (psychometrics) A question on a test, which may include its answers.

5. A matter for discussion in an agenda.

6. (informal) Two people who are having a relationship with each other.
   • 2010, Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris, Baby

     Are we an item? Girl, quit playin' / "We're just friends," what are you sayin'?

7. A short article in a newspaper.

8. (obsolete) A hint; an innuendo.

   • A secret item was given to some of the bishops […] to absent themselves.

Synonyms

• (object): article, object, thing
• (line of text having a legal or semantic meaning):
• (matter for discussion): subject, topic
• (two people who are having a relationship with each other): couple
• (psychometrics): test/assessment question

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

item (third-person singular simple present items, present participle iteming, simple past and past participle itemed)

1. (transitive) To make a note of.

Related terms

• itemize

Adverb

item (not comparable)

1. likewise

Anagrams

• -time, METI, emit, it me, mite, time

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [??t?m]

Adverb

item

1. (archaic) as well

   Synonyms: také, rovn?ž, dále, krom? toho

Further reading

• item in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• item in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

Latin.

Adverb

item

1. same; in the same way

Further reading

• “item” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin item.

Adverb

item

1. (law) in the same way.

Etymology 2

From English item, from Latin item.

Noun

item m (invariable)

1. (computer science) A single programmed unit.
2. (linguistics) An element of a grammatical or lexical set.

Latin

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *éy and *só. Compare ita and itidem.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?i.tem/, [??t????]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?i.tem/, [?i?t??m]

Adverb

item (not comparable)

1. just like (in a comparison)

Related terms

References

• item in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• item in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• item in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Middle English

Etymology

From Latin item.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i?t?m/

Adverb

item

1. also, and this.

References

• “item, adv. & n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-25.

Noun

item

1. the same; identical.

Descendants

• English: item
• Scots: eetem

References

• “item, adv. & n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-25.

Middle French

Etymology

Latin.

Adverb

item

1. same; in the same way

Old French

Etymology

Latin.

Adverb

item

1. same; in the same way

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin item (“also; in the same manner”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?i.t?m/, /?i.t??j?/
• Hyphenation: i?tem

Noun

item m (plural itens)

1. item
2. A matter for discussion in an agenda or elsewhere.

3. A line of text with some meaning.