Specialization

How to spell specialization

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce specialization

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does specialization mean?

1. nounThe act or process of concentrating on and becoming expert in a particular subject, skill, or area.

Specialization in a sentence

• Her specialization in tax law made her the firm's go-to adviser.

• Increasing specialization among surgeons means fewer of them perform general operations.

Where does specialization come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the adjective 'special', which entered English in the 1200s from the Old French 'especial' and ultimately from the Latin 'specialis', meaning 'belonging to a particular kind', itself from 'species', a 'sort' or 'appearance'. The verb 'specialize' was formed in the 1600s to mean 'to make particular' or 'to restrict to one branch', and the abstract noun 'specialization' followed, naming the process or state of narrowing to a specific field. The sense grew especially in nineteenth-century science and economics, where it described the division of labour and the way organisms or workers adapt to one function. The same 'species' root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'especially', 'specific', and 'spice', the last of which travelled through French from goods regarded as a 'special kind' of merchandise. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle: the '-cial-' sounds like 'shul', and writers must remember the '-iza-' before the '-tion' ending.

How the word is built

• special (of a particular kind)
• -ize (verb-forming, to make)
• -ation (noun of action/result)

British and American spelling

Specialization is the American spelling. British English spells it specialisation.