means the measure of how much useful output you get from a given amount of effort, time, or resources.

from From Latin 'productus,' the past participle of 'producere' — 'to bring forth, lead forward' (pro-, 'forward' + ducere, 'to lead'). The same 'ducere' that gives us 'conduct,' 'educate,' and 'duke.' 'Product' arrived in English by way of mathematics and trade, and 'productivity' bloomed later as an abstract noun — really coming into its own with the factories and economists of the industrial age, who needed a single word for the holy ratio of output to input.