Etymologically
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memorize

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɛm.əˌɹaɪ̯z/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English memory + -ize.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Memory came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman memorie and directly from Latin memoria (“memory, remembrance”),[3] a noun from memor (“mindful, remembering”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to remember”).[3] The OED compares Middle French memoriser (“to recall to the memory”), recorded once in 1488, and French mémoriser, which became general French only in the early 20th century.[2] Johnson (1755) derived the verb from memory.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To preserve the memory of something in writing; to record or mention: 1590, in a dedicatory sonnet by Edmund Spenser printed in The Faerie Queene.[2] Etymonline glosses the 1590s sense as "commit to writing, cause to be remembered by writing or inscription",[3] and Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1591.[4]

Semantic evolution

For more than two centuries the verb meant keeping someone or something in remembrance, not learning by heart: Nashe used it in 1593 of something that makes a thing memorable, while from 1594 a person could memorize a deed by celebrating it.[2] Johnson (1755) still defined it as "to record; to commit to memory by writing", quoting Spenser and Shakespeare.[8] The modern sense, to commit to memory or learn by heart, appeared in the United States: the OED's first example is from the North American Review of 1834,[2] and Etymonline dates it to 1838.[3] The older senses faded; the OED's last record of the writing sense is from 1869,[2] and Merriam-Webster labels both "archaic".[4]

Timeline

  • 1590 – to record or relate in writing (obsolete by the 1860s).[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1591.[4]
  • 1593 – to keep alive the memory of something; to make memorable.[2]
  • 1594 – the same, with a person as subject (now rare).[2]
  • 1834 – to commit to memory, learn by heart, at first in the United States.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1838.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To commit something to memory; to learn it so well that it can be repeated: The actors memorized their lines in a week.[9][4][2]
  2. (archaic) To commemorate in writing; to record or mention.[4][5][2]
  3. (archaic) To cause to be remembered; to make memorable.[4][5][2]

Word family

  • memorizable
  • memorizer
  • memorization
  • rememorize

Usage notes

The spelling memorise is used especially in British English.[9][7][4][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins