Word of the Day

: August 28, 2023

assay

verb a-SAY

What It Means

Assay is a technical word meaning "to test something (such as a metal or drug) to find out what it contains or to assess its value."

// Experts will assay the gold to determine its purity.

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assay in Context

"An obscure testing lab was hired to assay the metal because using the leading firm in the field would supposedly alert the Canadian nickel cartel." — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 24 Mar. 2022

Did You Know?

Usage experts warn against confusing the verbs assay and essay. Some confusion shouldn’t be surprising; not only do the two somewhat uncommon words look and sound alike, they also come from the same root, the Middle French word essai, meaning "test" or "effort." (Essai, in turn, comes from the Late Latin word exagium, meaning "act of weighing.") At one time, the two terms were synonyms, sharing the meaning "try" or "attempt," but they are now typically differentiated, with essay meaning "to try or attempt" (as in "a comedic actor essaying her first dramatic role") and assay meaning "to test or evaluate" (as in "blood assayed to detect the presence of the antibody"). Of course, essay is more common as a noun referring to a short analytic or personal literary composition, but that’s another essay.