Productivity

How to spell productivity

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce productivity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does productivity mean?

1. nounThe rate or efficiency with which work, goods, or results are produced, especially relative to the effort or resources used.

Productivity in a sentence

• The new scheduling software noticeably improved team productivity.

• Economists track national productivity as a measure of output per worker.

Where does productivity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb producere, meaning 'to bring forth' or 'to lead forward', built from pro- 'forward' and ducere 'to lead'. The same ducere root lies behind a whole family of English words including conduct, reduce, and aqueduct, all of which involve some kind of leading or drawing. English took 'produce' and 'product' from this Latin stock by way of Old French in the late medieval period, and the abstract noun 'productivity' was assembled in English much later, gaining real currency in the nineteenth century as economists began measuring how much output labour and machinery could 'bring forth'. The trap in the spelling is the quiet -ity ending and the easily blurred middle, where the firm 'duct' part is a useful anchor: think of the word as 'product' plus '-ivity'. Knowing that 'duct' literally means a thing that leads or carries helps keep the d firmly in place.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• duct (from Latin ducere, to lead or bring)
• -ive (tending to)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix denoting a quality)