Randomized

How to spell randomized

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce randomized

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does randomized mean?

1. verbArranged, ordered, or assigned by chance rather than by any fixed pattern or plan.

Randomized in a sentence

• The research team randomized the order in which patients received each treatment.

• The app randomized the playlist so the same songs never repeated in sequence.

Where does randomized come from?

Language of origin: French

This word builds on 'random', which entered English in the 1300s from the Old French 'randon', meaning a headlong rush, great speed, or impetuous force; that noun came from the verb 'randir', to gallop or run fast. The early English phrase 'at random' originally meant moving at great speed and without control, and only later softened into the modern sense of 'without a fixed plan or pattern'. The verb 'randomize' was coined much later, in the early twentieth century, when statisticians and scientists needed a word for deliberately assigning things by chance to remove bias. The '-ize' ending is the Greek-derived verb-forming suffix meaning 'to make or render', so 'randomize' literally means 'to make random', and adding '-ed' gives the past form. The spelling trap sits in the middle: an unstressed schwa in 'rand-OM-ized' and the choice between the '-ize' and '-ise' endings, both of which are accepted across these dialects.

How the word is built

• random (from Old French randon: a headlong rush)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix: to make)
• -ed (past tense/participle)

British and American spelling

Randomized is the American spelling. British English spells it randomised.