initialize
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
10 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "initialize", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "initialize" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "initialize" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
initialize is aEnglishverb. It means: To assign initial values to something. Pronounced /ɪˈnɪʃəlaɪz/.
Compare similar words
See how initialize compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | initialize |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɪˈnɪʃəlaɪz/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #56,199 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for initialize is 10 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪˈnɪʃəlaɪz/. Corpus data places it at rank #56,199 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for initialize in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From initial + -ize. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is initialize, spelled I-N-I-T-I-A-L-I-Z-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To assign initial values to something.
- 2To assign an initial value to a variable.
- 3To format a storage medium prior to use.
- 4To prepare any hardware (such as a printer or scanner) for use.
- 5To reduce (a phrase) to an initialism, or a word to its initial.
Etymology
From initial + -ize.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #56,199 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "initialize"?
What does "initialize" mean?
How do you pronounce "initialize"?
What is the origin of the word "initialize"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter I in our English index: