bowdlerize
/ˈbaʊd.ləɹˌaɪz/verb
bowdlerize is spelled B-O-W-D-L-E-R-I-Z-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables. As a verb, bowdlerize means “To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bowdlerize?
| Letters | 10: B-O-W-D-L-E-R-I-Z-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | too rare for the frequency list |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bowdlerize?
- UK /ˈbaʊd.ləˌɹaɪz/
- US /ˈbaʊd.ləɹˌaɪz/
Bowdlerize has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bowdlerize.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bowdlerize
- bowdlerizes present, singular, he/she/it
- bowdlerizing participle, present
- bowdlerized participle, past
- bowdlerise
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bowdlerize mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly.
The bowdlerized version of the novel, while free of vulgarity, was also free of flavor.
verb
- 1
Alternative form of bowdlerize.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bowdlerize in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | censurer, expurger |
| German | zensieren |
| Portuguese | censurar, expurgar |
| Spanish | censurar, expurgar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does bowdlerize come from?
From Bowdler + -ize; named after English physician Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825). In 1818, he published a censored version of William Shakespeare (The Family Shakespeare), expurgating “those words and expressions […] which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family.”
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).