orgy

the word 'orgy' entered english in the mid-16th century via french 'orgies', from latin 'orgia', which was borrowed from greek 'orgia'. in ancient greek, 'orgia' (ὄργια) referred specifically to secret rites or ceremonies performed in the worship of certain deities, most notably dionysus (bacchus), which were characterized by ecstatic singing, dancing, and drinking. the term is derived from the indo-european root werg-, meaning 'to do' or 'to work', which also gives us the word 'work'. the semantic journey from 'ritual work' to 'secret rites' and then to 'drunken revelry' reflects the roman and later european perception of these dionysian mysteries. by the 18th century, the meaning had generalized to any scene of wild revelry or excessive indulgence, shedding its original religious context entirely.

this word is a loanword from greek via latin and french. it is not productively formed from separable english morphemes and is therefore treated as unsegmentable in modern english.