essence

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The most basic and important quality that makes something what it is.

   Kindness is the very essence of who she is.

2. 2
   noun

   A concentrated liquid extracted from a plant, used for flavour or scent.

   Add a few drops of vanilla essence to the cake mixture.

3. 3
   noun

   A pleasant smell; a perfume.

   The room was filled with the sweet essence of roses.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Essence came into late Middle English through Old French from Latin essentia, from esse, “to be.” An early meaning was “being” or “existence.” Its use for a therapeutic extract obtained from a plant probably arose from the alchemical belief that a fifth essence latent in all bodies could be extracted by distillation, reinforced by the sense “indispensable quality or constituent.”

From Middle English essence, from Middle French essence, from Latin essentia (“the being or essence of a thing”), from an artificial formation of esse (“to be”), to translate Ancient Greek οὐσία (ousía, “being”), from ὤν (ṓn), present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “to be, exist”).

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary