analyze
English
editAlternative forms
edit- analyse (Commonwealth, sometimes Canada)
Etymology
editProbably a back-formation from analysis,[1] or from Middle French analyser,[2] from analyse, from Medieval Latin analysis, from Ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (análusis, “a breaking up, a loosening, releasing”), from ἀναλύω (analúō, “to unloose, release, set free”), from ἀνά (aná, “on, up, above, throughout”) + λύσις (lúsis, “a loosening”), from λύω (lúō, “to unfasten”).
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈæn.ə.laɪz/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈæn.ə.laɪz/, [ˈɛən.ə.laɪz], [ˈɛːn.ə.laɪz]
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈæn.ə.lɑɪz/, /ˈæn.lɑɪz/
- Hyphenation: an‧a‧lyze
Verb
editanalyze (third-person singular simple present analyzes, present participle analyzing, simple past and past participle analyzed) (American spelling)
- (transitive) To subject to analysis.
- (transitive) To resolve (anything complex) into its elements.
- analyze a problem
- (transitive) To separate into the constituent parts, for the purpose of an examination of each separately.
- (transitive) To examine in such a manner as to ascertain the elements or nature of the thing examined; as, to analyze a fossil substance, to analyze a sentence or a word, or to analyze an action to ascertain its morality.
Usage notes
edit- According to the third edition of Fowler's Modern English Usage, both analyze and the British spelling analyse are equally indefensible from an etymological perspective. The correct but now impossible form should have been *analysize.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editto subject to analysis
|
References
edit- ^ “analyse | analyze, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “analyze (v.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
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