Localization

How to spell localization

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce localization

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does localization mean?

1. nounThe process of adapting something, especially a product or its content, to a particular place, language, or market.
2. nounThe act of restricting or confining something to a specific, limited area.

Localization in a sentence

• The studio spent months on the localization of the game for the Japanese market.

• Early localization of the infection kept it from spreading through the ward.

• Proper localization means translating the text and adjusting dates, currency, and units.

• The scan helped with the localization of the tumour before surgery.

Where does localization come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This noun is built from the adjective 'local', which English took in the late 1300s from the Late Latin localis, meaning 'belonging to a place', itself from the classical Latin locus, simply 'a place' or 'spot'. The verb 'localize', meaning to confine or assign something to a particular place, was formed in the early 1800s by adding the productive verb-forming suffix '-ize', borrowed ultimately from the Greek '-izein'. From that verb, '-ation' was attached to name the action or result, giving 'localization'. The same Latin locus underlies a whole family of relatives such as 'location', 'locate', 'locale' and 'locomotive', which can help fix the 'loc' spelling in memory. In modern professional use the word also took on a specialised meaning in software and business: adapting a product, its language and its conventions for a specific regional market.

How the word is built

• local (of a place)
• -ize (to make/render)
• -ation (noun of action)