Seize

How to spell seize

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce seize

What does seize mean?

1. verbTo take hold of something suddenly and forcibly, or to take legal possession of it.

Seize in a sentence

• The opportunity is here, seize it.

• The police will seize any contraband.

• Seize the day before someone else does.

Where does seize come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes from the Old French verb saisir, meaning 'to take possession of' or 'to put in legal possession', which English borrowed in the 1200s. The Old French term itself probably traces back to a Frankish or Germanic source related to setting or placing, glossed roughly as 'to make someone sit on a property' and so to install them as its owner, an idea still visible in modern legal English where a person 'seised' of land holds it. From the original legal sense of formally taking control, the meaning broadened to grabbing anything suddenly and forcibly, and later to non-physical grabbing such as seizing an opportunity. The spelling is the great trap here: seize is one of the rare words that breaks the familiar 'i before e' rhyme without a preceding c, so the correct order is 'ei', not the expected 'ie'. The related noun 'seizure' keeps the same stubborn vowel pattern.

How the word is built

• seize (single root from Old French saisir: to take possession of)