-ize, suffix
Forms:
-ise, -ize.(Show Less)
Etymology: Cognate with French -ise-r, Italian -izare, Spanish -izar, < late Latin -izāre, -īzāre, < Greek -ίζειν, formative of verbs.
The Greek verbs were partly intransitive, as βαρβαρίζειν to play the barbarian, act or speak as a barbarian, side with the barbarians, τυραννίζειν to side with the tyrants, partly transitive as καθαρίζειν to purify, clean, θήσαυρίζειν to treasure up. Those formed on national, sectarian, or personal names were primarily intransitive, as Ἀττικίζειν to Atticize in manners, to speak Attic, Φιλιππίζειν to act or speak for Philip, to philippize, Ἑλληνίζειν to ‘do’ the Greek, act as a Greek, speak Greek, Hellenize; also, to make Greek. A few words of this form connected with or used in early Christianity, were latinized already in the 3rd or 4th cent. by Christian writers: such were βαπτίζεινbaptizāre, εὐαγγελίζεινeuangelizāre, κατηχίζεινcatechizāre, σκανδαλίζεινscandalizāre, ἀναθηματίζεινanathēmatizāre, χριστιανίζεινchristiānizāre, ἰουδαίζεινiūdaizāre. Others continued to be formed both in ecclesiastical and philosophical use, e.g. canōnizāre, daemonizāre, syllogizāre (Boethius Aristot. Anal.); and this became established as the normal form for the latinizing of Greek verbs, or the formation of verbs upon Greek analogies. In medieval Latin and the modern languages these have been formed also on Latin or modern national names, and the use has been extended to the formation of verbs from Latin adjectives or nouns. This practice probably began first in French; in modern French the suffix has become -iser, alike in words from Greek, as baptiser, évangéliser, organiser, and those formed after them from Latin, as civiliser, cicatriser, humaniser. Hence, some have used the spelling -ise in English, as in French, for all these words, and some prefer -ise in words formed in French or English from Latin elements, retaining -ize for those formed < Greek elements. But the suffix itself, whatever the element to which it is added, is in its origin the Greek -ιζειν, Latin -izāre; and, as the pronunciation is also with z, there is no reason why in English the special French spelling should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic. In this Dictionary the termination is uniformly written -ize. (In the Greek -ιζ-, the i was short, so originally in Latin, but the double consonant z (= dz, ts) made the syllable long; when the z became a simple consonant, /-idz/ became īz, whence English /-aɪz/.)
Forming verbs. In current English the following groups may be noted:
1. Words that have come down from Greek, or have been at some time adopted from Greek, or formed on Greek elements.
a. With the transitive sense of ‘make or conform to, or treat in the way of, the thing expressed by the derivation’, as baptize (probably the earliest -ize word in English), anathematize, anatomize, apostrophize, canonize, catechize, cauterize, characterize, christianize, crystallize, diphthongize, harmonize, idolize, monopolize, organize, phlebotomize, stigmatize, symbolize, systematize, tantalize.
b. With the intransitive sense ‘to act some person or character, do or follow some practice’, as agonize, apologize, apostatize, botanize, dogmatize, geologize, philosophize, syllogize, sympathize, theorize.
2. Words formed (in French or English) on Latin adjectives and nouns (esp. on derivative adjectives in -al, -ar, -an, etc.), mostly with the transitive sense ‘to make (that which is expressed by the derivation)’, as actualize, authorize, brutalize, civilize, colonize, consonantize, devocalize, eternize, etherealize, familiarize, fertilize, formalize, fossilize, humanize, immortalize, legalize, memorize, nationalize, naturalize, neutralize, patronize, pulverize, realize, satirize, scrutinize, secularize, signalize, solemnize, spiritualize, sterilize, terrorize, vocalize; trans. or intrans., as cicatrize, extemporize, moralize, particularize; less frequently only intransitive, as temporize.
3. Words from later sources, as bastardize, foreignize, jeopardize, villanize, womanize trans., gormandize, and such nonce-words as cricketize, pedestrianize, tandemize, intr.
4. Words formed on ethnic adjectives, and the like, chiefly transitive but sometimes intransitive, as Americanize, Anglicize, Gallicize, Germanize, Latinize, Romanize, Russianize.
5. Words formed on names of persons, sometimes with the intransitive Greek sense of ‘to act like, or in accordance with’, as in Calvinize, Coryatize, but usually in the transitive sense of ‘to treat like, or after the method of, or according to the (chemical or other) process of’; as in Boucherize, Bowdlerize, Burnettize, galvanize, Grangerize, macadamize, mesmerize, Rumfordize; with many technical and commercial terms, and nonce-words such as Gladstonize, Irvingize, Joe Millerize, Merry-Andrewize, without limit.
6. From names of substances, chemical and other; in the transitive sense of ‘to charge, impregnate, treat, affect, or influence with’; as alcoholize, alkalize, carbonize, de-oxidize, hydrogenize, oxidize, ozonize, silverize, etc.; so in nonce-words, as Londonize to make like London, etc. Verbs in -ize have the usual derivative adjectives and nouns, as participial adjective in -ed (often more used than the verb) as ‘sensitized paper’; participial adjective in -ing, chiefly from the intransitive use, as ‘Judaizing Christians’, ‘a philosophizing writer’; verbal noun in -ing, as ‘the Bowdlerizing of Shakespeare’; agent-noun in -izer (sometimes coexistent with a formation on the Greek type in -ist suffix), as colonizer (colonist); noun of action in -ization (sometimes coexistent with one from Greek in -ism suffix), as civilization, organization (organism). The following are illustrations of some of the recent uses of the suffix:
1594 T. Nashe Christs Teares
(new ed.)
To Rdr. sig. **ijv
Reprehenders, that complain of my boystrous compound wordes, and ending my Italionate coyned verbes all in ize.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words
Inpetrarcato, Petrarchized.
1618 J. Taylor Pennyles Pilgrimage sig. E2
I haue a smacke of Coriatizing.
1682 T. D'Urfey Butler's Ghost ii. 177
Ralpho..takes the Tongs..and snaps him by the Nose..surpriz'd, To be thus rudely dunstaniz'd.
1796 S. T. Coleridge Lett. I. 209
We might Rumfordize one of the chimneys.
1833 Blackwood's Mag. 34 533
It is a taste that, to coin a word, insignificantizes everything—unpoetizes nature.
1840 New Monthly Mag. 59 492
Tandemizing, cricketizing, boatizing, et omne quod exit in izing, is not to be carried on without a considerable expenditure.
1858 Sat. Rev. 5 264/2
He has no fear of Tower-Hamletizing the land.
1858 Sat. Rev. 6 203/2
To Perkin-Warbeckize a pretender is the best, because not the most spirited, policy.
1861 T. L. Peacock Gryll Grange viii. 58
Arch-quacks..have taken to merry-andrewising in a new arena.
1866 Sat. Rev. 10 Nov.
If a man..is funny, and succeeds in Joe-Millerizing history, he pleases somebody or other.
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 164
Of the first class [Preservation of Timber] the three best known processes are: (a) Burnetising, (b) Kyanising, and (c) Boucherising.
1881 Mahaffy in Academy 23 Apr. 295
She does not Irvingise Shylock.
1885 J. C. Jeaffreson Real Shelley II. 192
The troop of nakedized children rushed downstairs.
1894 Westm. Gaz. 21 Mar. 7/3
These instruments, before they are used, should always be strictly anti-septicized.
1897 A. Lang in Blackwood's Mag. Feb. 187
To do this is not to Celticise but to Macphersonise.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 28 July 6/1
The word ‘Klondykised’ has been coined to express the conditions of persons who have caught the mania [for seeking gold at Klondyke]... The effect has been to ‘Klondykise’ nearly all the people of the town.
1898 L. A. Tollemache Talks with Gladstone 114
(note)
It [the passage] is, as it were, Canning Gladstonized.
1594—1898(Hide quotations)
