CHAPTER 41

Using ize, ise, yze, yse

There are a great number of words that end in these spellings. The spelling rules that govern them are

quite clear and there are few anomalies. The ize suffix has been in use for about four hundred years. It
means “to become like or resemble” and is most commonly added to adjectives and nouns to create
verbs. Lately, this suffix has become so popular that some experts believe that it is overused. Many
writers refuse to use such words as finalize or prioritize, but these words are now common usage and are
in the dictionaries. If they follow the spelling rules and their meaning is clear. they should be accepted.
In American spelling the suffix is almost always ize, whereas in British spelling it is often ise.
However, this is rapidly changing, and the ize spelling is now all but universally accepted.

Spelling rule #1: If the ending is an unaccented final syllable, it will probably be a suffix and will be
spelled ize:

(^) Spelling rule #2: If the final syllable is accented, it is probably part of the root and will be spelled
ise—surprise and revise. There are, however, a few words in this group that do not accent the final
syllable—chastise and clockwise.
Note that yze is mainly restricted to scientific terms. Very few commonly used words have this ending:
(^) Curiously enough, the British spell some of these words with yse, thereby adding yet another ending for
them to worry about, but one less for us in America. There are no commonly used words that end in yse.
Only about ten percent of the words in this general category are spelled with ise, and these can be
divided into a few small groups.
(1) Words based upon the old English word wise, meaning either “intelligence” or “direction.” These
words are usually compounds:
(^) (2) Words ending in vise or cise, which are Latin roots and not suffixes:
(^) (3) A small group of words ending in rise:
(^) (4) Four words that end in mise:
(^) (5) Two words that end in uise—guise and disguise.
And of course there are always a few words that refuse to fit themselves into any group: