Etymograph

English

vocalize

Vocalize comes from Latin vōcālis ‘uttering a voice, having a voice’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- ‘to speak, to sound out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wekʷ-1‘to speak, to sound out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wṓkʷs1‘voice, speech’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wōks1‘voice’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvōx1‘voice’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvōcālis1‘uttering a voice, having a voice’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vocal1
  7. English1500–presentvocal1
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1876vocalize1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English vocalize
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1876, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: “Following the modern spirit, the real poems of the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wekʷ-Wiktionary, English vocalize‘to speak, to sound out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wṓkʷsWiktionary, English vocalize‘voice, speech’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wōksWiktionary, English vocalize‘voice’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvōxWiktionary, English vocalize‘voice’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvōcālisWiktionary, English vocalize‘uttering a voice, having a voice’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vocalWiktionary, English vocalize
  7. English1500–presentvocalWiktionary, English vocalize
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1876vocalizeWiktionary, English vocalize. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1876, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: “Following the modern spirit, the real poems of the…”

A compound of vocal + -ize

Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- ‘to speak, to sound out’

…

Proto-Italic *wōks ‘voice’

Latin vōx ‘a voice, sound, tone’

Latin vōcālis ‘uttering a voice, sounding, speaking’

Middle English vocal

English vocal

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- ‘to speak, to sound out’

epic, wight, whit, epos, 33 more

through Proto-Italic *wōks ‘voice’

voiceless, 29 more

through Latin vōx ‘voice’

voice, invite, invitation, vie, invoke, vox, vouch, invocation, vociferous, 26 more

through Latin vōcālis ‘uttering a voice, having a voice’

vowel, 15 more

Today it means

verb To express with the voice, to utter.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vocalize”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- / vocalize

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