[1625–35; ‹ L epistol(a) epistle + -ize]This word is first recorded in the period 1625–35. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cabaret, etch, officiate, plastic, program-ize is a verb-forming suffix occurring originally in loanwords from Greek that have enteredEnglish through Latin or French (baptize; barbarize; catechize); within English, -ize is added to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verbs with the general senses“to render, make” (actualize; fossilize; sterilize; Americanize), “to convert into, give a specified character or form to” (computerize; dramatize; itemize; motorize), “to subject to (as a process, sometimes named after its originator)” (hospitalize; terrorize; galvanize; oxidize; simonize; winterize). Also formed with -ize are a more heterogeneous group of verbs, usually intransitive, denoting a changeof state (crystallize), kinds or instances of behavior (apologize; moralize; tyrannize), or activities (economize; philosophize; theorize)