Characterize

How to spell characterize

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce characterize

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does characterize mean?

1. verbTo describe the distinctive qualities of something or someone, or to be a typical feature of it.

Characterize in a sentence

• The report tried to characterize the local housing market in a single paragraph.

• Long hours and tight deadlines characterize the work in that department.

Where does characterize come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek kharakter, which originally named the stamping tool an engraver used and then the distinctive mark it left behind, ultimately from kharassein, meaning 'to scratch, engrave, or sharpen'. From a physical impression the sense broadened to mean the stamp of qualities that sets one person or thing apart, and Latin took the noun as character. English already had 'character' by the late Middle Ages, and the verb 'characterize' was coined in the early 1600s by adding the productive Greek-derived ending -ize, giving the meaning 'to describe the distinctive qualities of' or 'to be a distinctive feature of'. The -ize spelling follows the original Greek -izein ending, which is why dictionaries on both sides of the Atlantic accept it. The fiddly part for spellers is the unstressed middle: the '-acter-' sequence is easy to scramble, and the schwa vowels hide whether to write '-ter-' or '-tor-'.

How the word is built

• character (from Greek kharakter: an engraved mark, stamp, or distinctive trait)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix: to make or do)

British and American spelling

Characterize is the American spelling. British English spells it characterise.