Analyzed

How to spell analyzed

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce analyzed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does analyzed mean?

1. verbExamined something in detail by breaking it into its component parts in order to understand or explain it.

Analyzed in a sentence

• The accountant analyzed every transaction before signing off the report.

• Researchers analyzed the survey data for hidden patterns.

Where does analyzed come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is the past tense of 'analyze', which traces back to the Greek 'analusis', meaning 'a loosening up' or 'a breaking apart', formed from 'ana' (up, throughout) and 'luein' (to loosen or release). The underlying idea was literally to take something apart so that its separate components could be examined one by one. The word travelled into English in the early 1600s, partly through the medieval Latin 'analysis' and the French 'analyser', and it was first used in logic, mathematics, and chemistry before spreading to everyday reasoning. The spelling split that trips people up arose later: American and Canadian writers settled on '-yze', echoing the Greek root spelled with a zeta-like sound, while British writers kept the '-yse' form modelled on French. The same 'luein' root for loosening also sits inside words such as 'paralyze' and 'catalyst', which is a handy reminder that the ending in this spelling is a 'z', not an 's'.

How the word is built

• ana- (up, throughout)
• -lyze (from Greek lysis 'a loosening, dissolving')
• -ed (past tense suffix)

British and American spelling

Analyzed is the American spelling. British English spells it analysed.