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Origin and history of efficient

efficient(adj.)

late 14c., "making, producing immediate effect, active, effective," from Old French efficient and directly from Latin efficientem (nominative efficiens) "effective, efficient, producing, active," present participle of efficere "work out, accomplish," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Meaning "productive, skilled" is from 1787. Related: Efficiently.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to efficient

coefficient(n.)

also co-efficient, c. 1600, "that which unites in action with something else to produce a given effect," from co- + efficient. Probably influenced by Modern Latin coefficiens, which was used in mathematics in 16c., introduced by French mathematician François Viète (1540-1603). As an adjective, "acting in union to the same end," from 1660s. Related: Coefficiency.

efficiency(n.)

1590s, "power to accomplish something," from Latin efficientia "efficient power; efficiency; influence" (from efficientem; see efficient) + -cy. In mechanics, "ratio of useful work done to energy expended," from 1858. Attested by 1951 as short for efficiency apartment (itself from 1917).

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doughty
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mask
1530s, "a cover for the face (with openings for the eyes and mouth), a false face," from French masque "covering to hide or guard the face" (16c.), from Italian maschera, from Medieval Latin masca "mask, specter, nightmare," a word of uncertain origin. It is perhaps from Arabic m
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early 15c., "a composition, a chronicle, the entire text of a writing," from Latin contextus "a joining together," originally past participle of contexere "to weave together," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + texere "to weave, to make" (from PIE root *te
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1590s, "slender riding whip," probably from a variant of a Flemish or Low German word akin to Middle Dutch swijch "bough, twig," or from swutsche, variant of Low German zwukse "long thin stick, switch," from Germanic *swih- (source also of Old High German zwec "wooden peg," Germa

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