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materialize

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Etymology and origin of the English word materialize

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1710 J. Addison, Tatler More words from the 18th century
Ultimate origin
Latin māteria
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin māter
French mère
Italian madre
Spanish madre
Latin māteria
Spanish madera
English matter
French matière
Spanish materia
Latin māteriālis
English material
English materialize
French matériel
Italian materiale
Spanish material
From the same root
Latin māternus ← māter
Latin mātertera ← māter
Latin mātrimōnium ← māter
Latin mātrīx ← māter
Latin mātrōna ← māter
French grand-mère ← mère
English materialism ← material

Pronunciation

  • /məˈtɪɹiəlaɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English material + -ize.[2][3][4][5] The adjective material is from Late Latin māteriālis (“formed of matter”), from Latin māteria (“matter, stuff, wood, timber”).[2][3] The OED compares French matérialiser, recorded from 1748, later than the English verb.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make material, or to represent something in material form: 1710, in Addison's Tatler.[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb began as a learned word for giving physical existence or material attributes to something.[2][3] From 1820 it could also mean to make materialistic, a sense the OED now calls rare.[2][3] Spiritualism gave it a new life: from 1840 it meant to cause a spirit to appear in bodily form, and by 1884 (Etymonline finds the intransitive use by 1866) a spirit itself was said to materialize.[2][3] The 1989 edition of the OED dated the transitive spiritualist sense only to 1880.[7] From there, in colloquial use that the OED traces to the United States in 1885, it came to mean to come into being, to become fact, or to turn up when expected.[2][7] The 20th century added a science-fiction sense, reappearing in physical form after travelling through space or time (1927), and a sense in particle physics, of photons turning into particles with mass (1971).[2]

Timeline

  • 1710 – to make material; to represent in material form.[2][6][3]
  • 1820 – to make materialistic.[2][3]
  • 1840 – in spiritualism, to cause a spirit to appear in bodily form.[2]
  • 1884 – of a spirit, to take a bodily form.[2][7]
  • 1885 – to come into existence, become fact, or appear when expected (originally American).[2][7]
  • 1927 – in science fiction, to reappear in physical form after travel through space or time.[2]
  • 1971 – in physics, of photons, to turn into particles with mass.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become actual fact; to happen, especially of something expected or promised: The pay rise they had been promised never materialized.[8][6][2][9]
  2. To appear, especially suddenly or unexpectedly: A porter materialized beside us as soon as we stepped off the train.[6][9][2]
  3. To take shape; to become tangible.[8][9]
  4. (spiritualism) To cause a spirit to appear in bodily form; of a spirit, to take bodily form.[8][6][2]
  5. To give material form to something; to represent as material.[6][2][8]
  6. (physics) To form material particles from energy.[8][2]
  7. (science fiction) To reappear in physical form after being transported through space or time.[2]
  8. (rare) To make materialistic.[2][6][9]

Word family

  • materialization
  • materializer
  • unmaterialized
  • dematerialize
  • rematerialize

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that the original senses, to take or give material form, are now less common than two extended ones: "to appear suddenly", which some critics have called incorrect, and "to take effective shape, come into existence", said of things that were expected.[9] It defends both: the first means to appear as if by magic, and the second, though criticized, is well established in reputable writing and extends the verb in the same way as take shape.[9] The spelling materialise is chiefly British.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Materialize.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/materialize. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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