Exergy \EK-sehr-jee\ (noun) - Potential energy to do work; the useful capacity of an energy source to perform work. "Anita has enough exergy to fill two positions like the one she currently occupies." A recent neologism by analogy with "energy," from Greek energeia, the noun from energos "active." Today's word would be based on ex- "from" + ergon "work," found in "ergonomics" and "surgery," from Latin "chirurgia" from Greek kheirourgia "hand-work" based on kheir "hand" + erg- "work" + ia, noun suffix. The o-grade, *org-, turns up in Greek organ "tool" and orgia "sacred rite," the origin of "orgy." The same root underlying erg-/org- became "work" in English and "werken" in Dutch.
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