essai

try, trial; assay; try; essay, composition of moderate length exploring a particular issue or subject

“Il a gagné après plusieurs essais.” — He won after numerous tries.

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French essai, from Late Latin exagium (“weighing”), hence English assay (compare also Spanish ensayo), from Latin exigō; the original sense of "trial" (if the gold is good) drifted towards a general meaning of "attempt". The literary meaning is given by Michel de Montaigne's masterpiece.