That's how the word energy came to be in science
The most widely used and important word in science is energy. It may seem that the term has been around since ancient times. But the reality is that this word is only 200 years old.
In the language of physics, energy means the ability to work. Working means transforming energy from one state to another. There is energy in an object that is capable of working. When we say that there is energy contained in an object, then it is understood that the object can apply force on something else and perform its action on it.
In the 18th century, the German scientist Gottfried Leibniz used the Latin word vis viva to describe a concept of energy. It means living ball. There is a resemblance of modern kinetic energy with this concept described by him. Meanwhile, in 1808, the British scientist Thomas Young used the word energy instead of vis viva to describe this idea. Young borrowed from the Greek word Energeia, meaning activity or working inside.
Work is performed due to speed. So speed is definitely a force. The term kinetic energy was used by the English scientist Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) in 1856 to describe this power. The word kinetic also comes from the Greek kinesis, which means speed in Greek.