iz
Greekmake, cause to be
About This Root
The suffix -ize is one of English's busiest word-factories. It comes from Greek -izein, a verb-forming ending meaning 'to make, to cause to become, to act in a certain way.' It traveled into Latin as -izāre and into French as -iser, and English has used it ever since to manufacture new verbs almost at will. Its core job is simple: take an adjective or a noun, add -ize, and you get a verb meaning 'to make (that adjective)' or 'to turn into / treat as (that noun).'
The adjective recipe is everywhere: modern → modernize (make modern), legal → legalize, real → realize, stable → stabilize (make stable). The noun recipe is just as common: standard → standardize (turn into a standard), author → authorize (make into the author/authority of an action), symbol → symbolize. From these verbs you can keep building: add -ation for the process noun (stabilization, destabilization), or -ed for the adjective (formalized).
Because -ize is so productive, it even attaches to proper names to coin one-off verbs. Bowdlerize — 'to censor a text by cutting out anything indecent' — comes from Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published a 'family-friendly' Shakespeare with all the rude bits removed. Galvanize, mesmerize, pasteurize were born the same way, each from a person's name.
A practical note on spelling: American English prefers -ize (organize, realize), British English often writes -ise (organise, realise). Both are correct; the -ize spelling is actually closer to the Greek original. Whichever you choose, the meaning is the same — -ize always means to make it so.
-ize = 'make it so.' Stick it on an adjective or noun and you get a verb: modern → modernize, stable → stabilize, author → authorize. (AmE -ize, BrE -ise — same meaning.)
Core Words Deep Dive
The few words from this family worth telling in full — one by one.
author + -ize, but the logic is subtle: to authorize is to act as the 'author'/authority behind an action — to lend it the weight of a legitimate source. When you authorize a payment, you back it with your standing as the one entitled to approve it. Note the everyday split: authorize (give permission) vs the noun authority and adjective authorized/unauthorized.
A three-layer build that shows the suffix machinery: stable (adj.) → stabilize (verb, -ize 'make stable') → stabilization (noun, -ation 'the process of'). The same chain runs in reverse with de-: destabilize → destabilization. A clean model for how English stacks suffixes to move between parts of speech.
The fun one: a verb minted from a surname. Thomas Bowdler's 1818 'Family Shakespeare' cut out everything he thought unfit for women and children, and his name became a verb for prudish censorship. It shows -ize at its most creative — turning even a person into an action. Cousins: galvanize, mesmerize, pasteurize, all from names.
Related Roots
Both make verbs meaning 'to make / cause to become.' -ify (from Latin -ficare 'to make') gives simplify, clarify, purify; -ize (from Greek) gives modernize, stabilize. Roughly: -ify on shorter/Latin bases, -ize on longer/Greek or modern bases — but usage is fixed per word (you can't say 'modernify').
-ate (Latin) also forms verbs of 'making/doing': activate, motivate, regulate. -ize feels more modern and productive; -ate is older and lexically fixed. When coining a brand-new verb today, English almost always reaches for -ize.
Associated Words · 5
authorize
To give official permission or power to someone
bowdlerize
To censor a text by removing offensive or indecent parts
destabilization
The process of making something less stable
formalized
Made official or given a recognized form
stabilization
The process of making something stable or steady