quintessence vs essence

quintessence and essence both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
quintessence	Yes	No	No	No
essence	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, essence is a hypernym of quintessence; that is, essence is a word with a broader meaning than quintessence:

quintessence: the purest and most concentrated essence of something
essence: the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience

Other hypernyms of quintessence include center, centre, core, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, nub, pith, substance, sum.

quintessence (noun)	essence (noun)
the purest and most concentrated essence of something	a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor
the most typical example or representative of a type	the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies	the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
	any substance possessing to a high degree the predominant properties of a plant or drug or other natural product from which it is extracted