naturalization

Etymology

The revised OED takes it as formed from English naturalize + -ation, comparing Middle French naturalisation of the late 16th century.^[2] Etymonline, Klein and Merriam-Webster instead derive it from the French noun, formed from naturaliser (“to naturalize”).^[3][4][5][6] Naturalize is from natural and -ize, partly through French naturaliser;^[3][2] natural is from Old French naturel and directly from Latin nātūrālis (“by birth, according to nature”), from nātūra (“nature”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The admission of a foreigner to the rights of a native-born subject or citizen: 1558, in the Acts of the Parliament of Scotland; the OED notes that the use was originally Scottish.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED had 1578,^[7] and Etymonline dates it to the 1570s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From citizenship the word was extended to things adopted from abroad: Johnson used it in 1747, in the Plan of his dictionary, of foreign words taken into English,^[2] and in 1755 defined it as granting aliens the privileges of native subjects, quoting Bacon on the Spartans.^[8] From 1830 it was used of plants and animals introduced to a country where they then thrive and breed freely;^[2] from 1899 it was rarely used of making something natural in general.^[2] In law it is the grant of citizenship to a foreign-born person under statute.^[9]

Timeline

• 1558 – the admission of a foreigner to the rights of citizenship (originally Scottish).^[2]
• 1747 – the adoption of foreign words or customs into general use.^[2]
• 1830 – the introduction and establishment of a plant or animal in a new country.^[2]
• 1899 – the action of making natural (rare).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The legal process by which a foreign-born person becomes a citizen of a country: She applied for naturalization after five years of residence.^[5][2][9]
2. The adoption of foreign words or customs into general use.^[2][1]
3. The introduction of a plant or animal to a region where it is not native and where it then thrives and breeds.^[2][1]

Related words

• naturalize
• natural
• nature
• denaturalization

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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 Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West