65 Verbs Ending in "izar" With Tips for Remembering

Question

amenizar	to liven - Amen! to livening things up around here!
amortizar	to amortize - what you do with a loan or mortgage
analizar	to analyze - Spanish doesn't use Y's much
armonizar	to harmonize - the h is silent, so why bother?
atemorizar	to terrify - temor = fear, like tremor w/o the r
aterrorizar	to terrorize - I'm a gonn-a terrorize them!
atomizar	to atomize - to mist or really break something up
autorizar	to authorize - why bother with a silent H?
barbarizar	to barbarize
bautizar	to baptize - PU, the baby stinks, get rid of the P!
caracterizar	to characterize - forget the silent H
civilizar	to civilize
confraternizar	to get along or fraternize, even with a CONvict
connaturalizar	to naturalize - even CONvicts can become citizens
cristalizar	to crystallize - Spanish doesn't use Y's much
descentralizar	to decentralize - des-, as in Desi Arnaz is Sp. for de-
descuartizar	to tear apart - drawing and quartering a body
deslizar	to slide - see a lizard sliding down the hill
desmoralizar	to demoralize
desnaturalizar	to denature, adulturate, deny natural rights to someone
divinizar	to deify - make something divine
economizar	to economize
erizar	to bristle - like irritated, but with an e
escandalizar	to shock - scandalize - S >> Es en Español
esclavizar	to enslave - a nail is a clavo in Spanish
especializar	to specialize - many S words begin with Es in Español
estigmatizar	to stigmatize - S >> Es
eternizar	to last forever - not eternALizar - AL won't last forever.
exteriorizar	to externalize - the exterior is the outside
familiarizar	to familiarize
fertilizar	to fertilize
finalizar	to end, finish or terminate
fiscalizar	to monitor - Monitoring finances / fiscal affairs.
flexibilizar	to make flexible
formalizar	to formalize
fraternizar	to fraternize
garantizar	to guarantee - Garantiz arE good!
generalizar	to generalize
herborizar	to pick herbs
horrorizar	to horrify - the F gets the F.... out! Horror!
hostilizar	to harrass - treat them as a hostile witness
inmortalizar	to immortalize - mm often becomes nm in Spanish
inutilizar	to disable - to make un-utilizable
localizar	to locate or localize
monopolizar	to monopolize
moralizar	to moralize
movilizar	to mobilize - b's and v's sound the same in Spanish
neutralizar	to neutralize
organizar	to organize
paralizar	to paralyze
poetizar	to put into poetry
popularizar	to popularize
profetizar	to prophesy - Spanish doesn't like Y's guys
profundizar	to deepen - to make profound
realizar	to realize, perform or carry out
regularizar	to regularize
reorganizar	to reorganize
ridiculizar	to ridicule
rivalizar	to compete - with your rival
simpatizar	to sympathize - few Y's in Spanish
sintetizar	to synthesize - still don't want any Y's!
solemnizar	to solemnize
suavizar	to relax - be suave, man...cool it!
utilizar	to use or utilize
vigorizar	to invigorate - No “in”, sometimes this means the opposite.

Answer 1

In English, it's verbs that end in -ise (-ize in General American).

• empatizar- empathise (Br.), empathize (Am.)

• pasteurizar - pasteurise (Br.), pasteurize (Am.)

• estilizar - stylise (Br.), stylize (Am.)

• verbalizar - verbalise (Br.), verbalize

It's a 'formularising' suffix that may 'verbalise' words into action, often 'stylising' core nouns and adjectives into verbs. If it's a verb that ends in -ise/-ize in English, chances are a verb of similar/same meaning ends in -izar in Spanish, since such English words are of Latin root.

However, one must be careful. English speakers, particularly Americans, like to 'verbize' words (turn non-verbs into verbs) ad hoc by merely adding '-ize' to a noun or adjective to create a non-standard verb relating to or invoking that word. Doing so most often, but not necessarily, turns the subject into that noun or, when used with an object, is the action of imposing the word. This being the case, there are verbs that have crept into English vocabulary this way. One example is pasteurise/pasteurize, which is a verb that means to employ a purification process invented by Louis Pasteur. In this instance, the English coined verb did work its way into Spanish dictionaries as pasteurizar, but this is a rare case. Spanish is normally highly resistant to such inventions. It does not tolerate inventing verbs willy-nilly, not even in the vernacular. Whilst English speakers have become accustomed to such 'coloquialising' and 'idiomising' in familiar speech, Spanish speakers have not and will likely have no idea what you are on about. So, if one imagines a verb that ends in -ize, think whether or not its trunk sounds at all Latin. If not, be warned that transliterating -izar for -ize will in all likelihood not deliver an equivalent verb in Spanish.

Thank you, very insightful...now would you take a moment to complete your profile where language proficiency is concerned? Thank you. :) - rac1, May 19, 2015