Synergy

How to spell synergy

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce synergy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does synergy mean?

1. nounThe extra benefit or combined effect produced when people or things work together, greater than the sum of their separate efforts.

Synergy in a sentence

• The merger promised real synergy between the two engineering teams.

• Managers often talk about synergy when they want departments to share resources.

Where does synergy come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Synergy comes from the Greek word synergia, meaning 'cooperation' or 'working together', which was built from synergos, 'working together', combining syn 'together, with' and ergon 'work'. That same ergon root underlies a whole family of English words about work and energy, including 'energy' itself and the unit 'erg'. The word first entered English in the 1600s through theology and medicine, where 'synergism' described the idea that two agents, whether human will and divine grace or two drugs, could produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. By the twentieth century it had spread into biology, business, and general use to describe any cooperation that yields extra benefit. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle: the 'erg' sound is easy to slur, and writers sometimes drop or alter it, but remembering 'energy' and its 'erg' core keeps the spelling steady.

How the word is built

• syn- (together)
• erg (from ergon: work)
• -y (noun-forming suffix)