ize

Oxford spelling (also ''Oxford English Dictionary'' spelling, Oxford style, or Oxford English spelling) is a spelling standard, named after its use by the Oxford University Press, that prescribes the use of British spelling in combination with the suffix ''-ize'' in words like ''realize'' and ''organization'' instead of ''-ise'' endings.

Oxford spelling is used by many UK-based academic journals (for example, ''Nature'') and many international organizations (for example, the United Nations and its agencies). It is common for academic, formal, and technical writing for an international readership. In digital documents, Oxford spelling may be indicated by the IETF language tag ''en-GB-oxendict'' (or historically by ''en-GB-oed'').

Defining feature

Oxford spelling uses the suffix ''ize'' alongside ''lyse'': ''organization'', ''privatize'' and ''recognizable'', rather than ''organisation'', ''privatise'' and ''recognisable'' – alongside ''analyse'', ''paralyse'' etc. The Oxford University Press states that the belief that ''ize'' is an exclusively North American variant is incorrect. The Oxford spelling affects about 200 verbs, and is favoured on etymological grounds, in that ''ize'' corresponds more closely to the Greek root of most '' ize'' verbs, .

The suffix ''ize'' has been in use in the UK since the 15th century, and is the spelling variation used in North American English. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' lists the ''ise'' form of words separately, as "a frequent spelling of IZE ...":

The Oxford use of ''ize'' does not extend to the spelling of words not traced to the Greek , suffixes. One group of such words is those ending in ''lyse'', such as ''analyse'', ''paralyse'' and ''catalyse'', which come from the Greek verb , , the perfective (aorist) stem of which is : for these, is the more etymological spelling. Others include ''advertise'', ''arise'', ''compromise'', ''chastise'', ''disguise'', ''improvise'', ''prise'' (in the sense of open), and ''televise''.

In addition to the OUP's "Oxford"-branded dictionaries, other British dictionary publishers that list ''ize'' suffixes first include Cassell, Collins, and Longman.

Usage

Oxford spelling is used by the Oxford University Press (OUP) for British publications, including its ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and its influential British style guide ''Hart's Rules'', and by other publishers who are "etymology conscious", according to Merriam-Webster.

Oxford spelling (especially the first form listed in the ''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', Twelfth Edition) is the official or spelling standard used in style guides of the international organizations that belong to the United Nations System. This includes the World Health Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the International Labour Organization, the World Food Programme, the International Court of Justice, and UNESCO, and all UN treaties and declarations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Other international organizations that adhere to this standard include the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Interpol, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Amnesty International (AI), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

Oxford spelling is used in a number of academic publications, including the London-based scientific journal ''Nature'' and all other UK-based "Nature"-branded journals, the ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'', and the ''Journal of Physiology''. It is used by ''The Times Literary Supplement'', ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' and Cambridge University Press. Newspapers and magazines in the UK normally use ''-ise''. The style guide of ''The Times'' recommended ''-ize'' until 1992, when it switched to ''-ise''. The newspaper's chief revise editor, Richard Dixon, wrote of the change:

In both the King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare, ''-ize'' endings are used throughout. Well-known literary works that use Oxford spelling include ''The Lord of the Rings'' by J. R. R. Tolkien (an Oxford University professor), ''And Then There Were None'' by Agatha Christie (married to an All Souls archaeologist), and ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' by C. S. Lewis (a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford).

Oxford spelling is not necessarily followed by the staff of the University of Oxford. The university's style guide, last updated in 2016, recommended the use of ''-ise'' for internal use.

Language tag comparison

The following table summarizes a few general spelling differences among five major English spelling conventions, plus the French spelling convention for comparison. Note: ''en-GB'' simply stands for British English; it is not specified whether ''-ize'' or ''-ise'' should be used. The language tag en-GB-oxendict, however, demands the use of ''-ize'' and ''-ization''.

See also

* Canadian English spelling
* Macquarie Dictionary (Australian usage)
* Oxford comma
* Spelling differences: -ise, -ize

Notes

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

* ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' (1st ed.)
* ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd ed. (20 vols.)
*''The Oxford English Dictionary'', Oxford: Oxford University Press (latest edition: on WWW)

Further reading

IANA Language Tag Registration Form for ''en-GB-oed''AskOxford: Are spellings like ''privatize'' and ''organize'' Americanisms?
* ''British Medical Journal''
''-ize right''
*Tieken-Boon Van Ostade, Ingrid
''An Introduction to Late Modern English''
Edinburgh University Press, 2009, p. 38.

15th-century introductions
American and British English differences
Spelling
English orthography
Spelling