Etymologically
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customize

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 00:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkʌs.tə.maɪ̯z/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English custom + -ize.[2][3][4][5][6] The OED takes it from the noun custom,[2][5] and Etymonline from its adjective use, made to order for individual customers, recorded by 1830.[4] The noun custom is from Old French costume, from Vulgar Latin *consuetumen, from Latin cōnsuētūdō (“habit, usage”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make or alter something to a customer's own requirements: 1920, in an advertisement in a St Louis newspaper, the Post-Dispatch.[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb began in American English.[4][7][5] The OED records the more general sense, to adapt something to suit a particular person or task, alongside the commercial one;[2][8] the Concise Oxford gives only the general sense.[9]

Timeline

  • 1920 – to make or modify to a customer's specifications.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1923, Etymonline to 1934, and Dictionary.com to 1930–35.[3][4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To build, fit or alter something according to individual specifications: They customized the van for camping trips.[3][8][2]
  2. More generally, to adapt something to suit a particular person or task: You can customize the toolbar.[2][9]

Word family

  • customization
  • customizer
  • customizable
  • semicustomized

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press