efficient English · revision 5339

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380|origins=la efficere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/, /əˈfɪʃ.ənt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|efficient]], [[bor|fro|efficient]] and directly from [[la|efficiēns|t=effective, producing, active]], the present participle of [[m|la|efficere|t=to work out, accomplish]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|ex-|t=out]] and [[m|la|facere|t=to do]].^(Etymonline) It is related to [[effect]] and [[efficacy]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Producing an immediate effect, causing: about 1380 in Chaucer's Boethius according to Barnhart, 1398 in the OED, chiefly in ''efficient cause'', the cause that makes a thing what it is.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The current sense, productive or competent, working well with little waste of effort, is from 1787.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998) In the 19th century a volunteer soldier qualified for service was an ''efficient'' (1864).^(OED 1989) ''Efficiency'' is from 1593, in Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – causing an effect.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1593 – ''efficiency''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1787 – competent, productive.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Working or producing well with little waste of time, money or effort.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of a person, capable and [[competent]].^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' Producing a direct effect; [[cause|alt=causing]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[efficiently]]

+ * [[cost-efficient]]

+ * [[nonefficient]]

+ * [[superefficient]]

+ * [[efficient cause]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[effect]]

+ * [[effective]]

+ * [[effector]]

+ * [[effectual]]

+ * [[effectuate]]

+ * [[efficacious]]

+ * [[efficacity]]

+ * [[efficacy]]

+ * [[efficiency]]

+ * [[deficient]]

+ * [[sufficient]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}