assayest
/əˈseɪɪst/verb
Archaic second-person singular present of assay
From English, from Middle English assay (to try).
Lineage
assay
-est
RomanceGermanicnot directly attested
Selected stage
Modern English
assayest — Archaic second-person singular present of assay
The story
Assayest means “you assay”—an archaic way to address one person while saying that they try, test, or analyze something. It is formed from assay and the ending -est, which marks the second-person singular present.
The verb assay came into Middle English as assayen, from Anglo-Norman assaier; the related noun form was Anglo-Norman assai, from Old French essai. The spelling assay is a doublet of essay.
Words from the same roots
assay · English, from Middle English, ‘to try, test, or analyze’
Derivedassay, assayer, assayable, bioassay, immunoassay