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urbanization

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Etymology and origin of the English word urbanization

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1888 Advance (Chicago) More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
Latin urbs

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌɜːb(ə)naɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˌɜːb(ə)nɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/[1]
  • US: /ˌɝːb(ə)nəˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English urbanize + -ation.[2][3][4] The verb urbanize is partly from urban and partly from urbane with the suffix -ize;[2] the adjective is from Latin urbānus (“of the city”), from urbs (“city”).[2] The OED compares French urbanisation, recorded from 1924 (from 1919 in the sense "urban planning"), and Spanish urbanización, used for town planning by I. Cerdá in 1867.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The process of making or becoming urban in character: 1888, in the Chicago paper Advance.[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged give the same year.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The noun followed the sense of urbanize "to make urban in character, to convert into an urban area", recorded from 1866; the verb's first sense, "to make refined, civilize" (1642), had died out by the early 19th century.[2] Etymonline dates the sense "make into a city" to 1884, partly after French urbaniser (1873).[3] Collins describes urbanizing both as making a rural area more industrialized and urban and as drawing a growing share of country people into the cities.[6] From 1939 urbanization was also used concretely for an urbanized area, and in British use for a housing development.[2]

Timeline

  • 1888 – the process of making or becoming urban; the condition of being urbanized.[2][3][5]
  • 1939 – an urbanized area; in British use, a housing development.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The process by which a place becomes urban in character, or by which a growing share of a population moves into cities: Rapid urbanization put pressure on the region's water supply.[2][6][5]
  2. The state or quality of being urbanized.[5][2]
  3. An urbanized area; in British use, a housing development.[2]

Word family

  • overurbanization

Usage notes

The British spelling is urbanisation.[5][3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Urbanization.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/urbanization. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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