Word.ws English Dictionary

parergy

/ˈpæɹə(ɹ)d͡ʒi/

parergy noun: something unimportant, incidental, or superfluous; a trifle.

Noun

parergy (plural parergies)

  1. (obsolete) Something unimportant, incidental, or superfluous; a trifle
    • Wherefore the Scriptures being serious, and commonly omitting such parergies, it will be unreasonable from hence to condemn all laughter1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC

Forms of parergy

pluralparergies

Origin of parergy

Latin parergon, Ancient Greek πάρεργον (párergon); παρά (pará, “beside”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”).

Questions about parergy

What does parergy mean?
Parergy means something unimportant, incidental, or superfluous; a trifle.
What part of speech is parergy?
Parergy is a noun.
How do you pronounce parergy?
Parergy is pronounced /ˈpæɹə(ɹ)d͡ʒi/.
What is the plural of parergy?
The plural of parergy is parergies.

Words near parergy in the dictionary

  1. parergal
  2. parergies
  3. parergon
  4. parergonic
  5. parergons
  6. parergy
  7. parers
  8. pares
  9. pares down
  10. pares to the bone
  11. pareses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: parergy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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