-ize

See also: ize, izé, íze, and izë

English

Alternative forms

• -ise (non-Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

From Middle English -isen (“-ise, -ize”), from Old French -iser (“-ize”), from Latin -izāre (“-ize”), from Ancient Greek -ίζειν (-ízein), from Proto-Indo-European *-idyé- (verbal suffix). Cognate with Gothic -𐌹𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (-itjan, verbal suffix), Old High German -izzen (verbal suffix), Old English -ettan (verbal suffix). Also see notes.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /-aɪz/

Suffix

-ize

1. Used to form verbs from nouns or adjectives
   1. to make what is denoted by the noun/adjective

      pixel - pixelize

   2. to do what is denoted by the noun/adjective

      cannibal - cannibalise

Usage notes

• Many English verbs end in the suffix /aɪz/. Historically, this has been spelled -ize on words coming from Greek (for example baptize, Hellenize), while -ise has been used, especially in -vise, -tise, -cise, and -prise, on words coming from French or Latin (for example surprise, supervise). In the 19th century, it became common in the United Kingdom (due to French influence), and then also in Ireland, India, Australia, and New Zealand, to use -ise on words that had historically been spelled -ize (hence baptise, Hellenise). However, the influential Oxford University Press and its Oxford English Dictionary continued to use the spelling -ize on Greek words, and -ize has always been the spelling used in the United States and the predominant one in Canada on such words.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ize

• -izer, -ization

Translations

suffix used to form verbs

• Catalan: -itzar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: -化 (faa³)

  Hakka: -化 (fa)

  Mandarin: -化 (zh) (huà)

  Min Nan: -化 (hoà)

• Danish: -ere
• Finnish: -oida, -öidä
• French: -iser (fr)
• Galician: -izar
• German: -ieren (de), -isieren (de)
• Greek: -ποιώ (el) (-poió)
• Hungarian: -izál (hu), -alizál (see Usage notes at -izál)
• Ido: -izar
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: -izzare
• Japanese: -化する (ja) (-かする, -ka-suru) (化 (ja) (-か, -ka) + する (ja) (-suru))
• Korean: 화하다 (ko) (-hwa-hada) (化 (ko) (-hwa) + 하다 (ko) (-hada))
• Norwegian: -ere
• Occitan: -izar
• Portuguese: -izar (pt)
• Romanian: -iza
• Russian: -изова́ть (-izovátʹ), -изи́ровать (-izírovatʹ)
• Spanish: -izar (es)
• Swedish: -isera (sv)
• Vietnamese: ... hoá (vi)