Spelling standard introduced by Oxford University Press
"Oxford style" redirects here. For the Oxford or Harvard comma, see Serial comma.
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).[1][2][3] 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 tagen-GB-oxendict (or historically by en-GB-oed).[4]
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.[5] The Oxford spelling affects about 200 verbs,[6] and is favoured on etymological grounds, in that ‑ize corresponds more closely to the Greekroot of most ‑ize verbs, -ίζω (‑ízō).[7]
The suffix ‑ize has been in use in the UK since the 15th century,[5] and is the spelling variation used in North American English. The OED lists the ‑ise form of words separately, as "a frequent spelling of ‑IZE ...":
This practice probably began first in French; in modern French the suffix has become ‑iser, alike in words from Greek, as baptiser, évangéliser, organiser, and those formed after them from Latin, as civiliser, cicatriser, humaniser.
Hence, some have used the spelling ‑ise in English, as in French, for all these words, and some prefer ‑ise in words formed in French or English from Latin elements, retaining ‑ize for those formed from Greek elements.
However, the suffix itself, whatever the element to which it is added, is in its origin the Greek ‑ιζειν, Latin ‑izāre; and, as the pronunciation is also with z, there is no reason why in English the special French spelling should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic. In this Dictionary the termination is uniformly written ‑ize. (In the Greek ‑ιζ‑, the i was short, so originally in Latin, but the double consonant z (= dz, ts) made the syllable long; when the z became a simple consonant, /‑idz/ became īz, whence English /‑aɪz/.)
The Oxford use of ‑ize does not extend to the spelling of words not traced to the Greek ‑izo, ‑izein suffixes. One group of such words is those ending in ‑lyse, such as analyse, paralyse and catalyse, which come from the Greek verb λύω, lyo, the perfective (aorist) stem of which is ‑lys-: for these, ‑lyse is the more etymological spelling. Others include advertise, arise, compromise, chastise, disguise, improvise, prise (in the sense of open), and televise.[additional citation(s) needed][8]
In addition to the OUP's "Oxford"-branded dictionaries, other British dictionary publishers that list ‑ize suffixes first include Cassell, Collins, and Longman.[9]
In the great -ize versus -ise debate, The Times has opted latterly for simplicity over a sort of erudition ... But in the Style Guide of 1992, the following entry appeared: "-ise, -isation: avoid the z construction in almost all cases. This is volcanic ground, with common usage straining the crust of classical etymology. This guidance is a revision of the Greek zeta root ending in the direction of a Latin ending and common usage: apologise, organise, emphasise, televise, circumcise. The only truly awkward result is capsize, which should be left in its Grecian peace."
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.[14]
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 tagen-GB-oxendict, however, demands the use of -ize and -ization.
^Labor Party and Victor Harbor are exceptions to the typical spelling in Australian English, having had their names established before convergence on the British -our spelling convention.
^"Behaviour" is ultimately of Germanic origin in English, with the -iour spelling apparently being a hyperforeignism, likely the obsolete form haviour being interpreted as cognate with French avoir.
References
^Cantrill, Stuart (25 April 2013). "50 Things You Might Not Know About Nature Chemistry". The Sceptical Chymist. Retrieved 5 May 2016. [W]e use Oxford English spelling. So, for all of you wondering why we put 'z's in lots of words that you don't think we should, hopefully that answers your question.
^Three further examples: 1. Style Manual (2nd Revised ed.). UNESCO. 2004. 2. Hindle, W. H. (1984). Theron, Johan; Malania, Leo (eds.). A Guide to Writing for the United Nations (2nd ed.). UN Department of Conference Services. 3. "Words ending in -ize, -ise and -yse". WHO Style Guide. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2004. pp. 77–78. Where there is a choice between using the suffix -ize or -ise (e.g. organize or organise), -ize, derived from the Greek ‑izo, is preferred, consistent with the first spelling of such words given in The concise Oxford dictionary [sic]. All use British -our spellings with Oxford -ize/-ization, except in proper names that have Organisation.
^IANA language subtag registry, IANA, with "en-GB-oed" added 9 July 2003 marked as grandfathered, and deprecated effective 17 April 2015, with "en-GB-oxendict" preferred (accessed 8 August 2015).
