Legalization

How to spell legalization

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce legalization

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does legalization mean?

1. nounThe act or process of making something permitted by law that was previously forbidden.

Legalization in a sentence

• The legalization of cannabis transformed the local tax revenue overnight.

• Campaigners spent decades pushing for the legalization of casino gambling.

Where does legalization come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The heart of this word is the Latin noun lex, with the stem leg-, meaning 'law' or 'a binding rule'. From it Latin formed legalis, meaning 'relating to the law', which English absorbed through Old French as 'legal' in the late medieval period. To 'legalize' something, meaning to make it lawful, appears in English by the seventeenth century, built by adding the productive verb-forming ending that English borrowed from Greek by way of Latin and French. 'Legalization' is the noun naming that process, assembled with the suffix -ation that turns a verb into the name of its action. The same leg- root quietly powers a whole family of English words, including 'legislation', 'legitimate', and 'loyal', so spotting the 'legal' core helps anchor the spelling and reminds you that the ending stacks up as -al, then -ize, then -ation.

How the word is built

• leg- (from Latin lex, legis: law)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)
• -ize (verb suffix: to make)
• -ation (noun suffix: the act or process of)

British and American spelling

Legalization is the American spelling. British English spells it legalisation.