Where does “efficacy” come from?
Efficacy comes from Old French efficace, derived from Late Latin efficacia and Latin efficax, meaning "powerful" or "effectual," ultimately from Latin facio meaning "to do" with the prefix ex-.
efficacy (English): Ability to produce a desired effect under ideal...
Definitions
- Ability to produce a desired effect under ideal...
Ancestry of “efficacy”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | efficace | — |
| 2 | Latin | efficacia | efficacy, effectiveness, efficiency; virtue;... |
| 3 | Latin | efficāx | efficacious, effectual, powerful, efficient |
| 4 | Latin | efficiō | to make out or work out; effect, execute, complete, accomplish, make, form, compose |
| 5 | Latin | ex | A name of the letter "X"; out of, from |
| 6 | Latin | commūnicō | to impart, share |
| 7 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 8 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 13 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 14 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 15 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 16 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 17 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |