Efficiency

How to spell efficiency

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce efficiency

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does efficiency mean?

1. nounThe quality of achieving a result with the least waste of time, effort, or resources.

Efficiency in a sentence

• The new heating system improved the building's energy efficiency.

• Managers track the efficiency of each production line to cut costs.

Where does efficiency come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin efficientia, meaning 'a making happen' or 'an effective action', which was built on the verb efficere, 'to bring about' or 'to accomplish'. That verb joined ex-, meaning 'out', to facere, meaning 'to make' or 'to do', so the literal idea was of making something come out or causing a result. English took it in around the late 1500s, at first carrying the philosophical sense of a cause that produces an effect, before settling into the modern meaning of doing work with the least waste of time or resources. The same facere root powers a huge family of English words, including 'factory', 'effect', and 'sufficient', and noticing the shared 'fic' helps explain the spelling. The trap for adult writers is the doubled f from the ex-/ef- assimilation followed by the soft c, plus the unstressed -iency ending that the ear does not clearly separate.

How the word is built

• ef- (variant of ex-: out)
• fic (from facere: to make or do)
• -iency (noun suffix)