In thermodynamics, PV work is a shorthand term for pressure volume work or work associated with volume change.
Etymology
The concept of pressure volume work originated from the invention of the indicator by James watt in 1790, followed by the invention of the indicator diagram by John Southern, Watt's employee, in 1796, followed by an exposition of the mathematical details of indicator diagrams, otherwise known as PV diagrams, by French physicist Emile Clapeyron in 1834.
In 1857, German physicist Rudolf Clausius, in his paper on the kinetic theory of gases, derived a formula for product of the pressure and volume of a body of gas as follows: