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Are there any "-ise" (or "-yse") words which cannot be (or are never) written using "-ize"?

I searched for prior questions, and came across:

But I have seen no mention of the rule I was taught at school, which is that while verbs derived from Greek may receive the "-ize" suffix, verbs derived from Latin may not. All the answers to the questions above simply focus on the fact that Americans prefer the "-ize" form and the British tend to use "-ise" for words with those endings.

Has usage changed in the 21st Century? Can we spell all the following verbs with "ize"?

  • advertise
  • advise
  • paralyse
  • analyse
  • despise
  • exercise
  • revise
  • supervise
  • surprise
  • compromise

If we can use either ending for some of the words, but not others, what is the governing rule?

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  • 1
    ODO covers this.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 15:01
  • @Andrew Leach - I've gone through questions that you have answered so far and I have found that many of them are off-topic. Some of them are elementary questions that should have been migrated to ELL. Others could have been answered using "commonly-available references". I've seen double standards here all the time. It's high time you guys set up detailed guidelines on when to close a question and make sure all moderators act accordingly. Personal taste ("I like this question", "I have a good answer to this question") should be ignored.
    – Centaurus
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 16:59
  • Also, if all questions that can be answered somewhere else in the www were considered off-topic, there would be very few left. A question like this one, with a good answer (below) by tchrist, is certainly a good source of information for those who are not as erudite as you are.
    – Centaurus
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 17:04
  • But I quickly found the ODO reference, with all the verbs you mention, plus a link to an article discussing regional and historical usage. This level of research, and evidence thereof, is taken as a prerequisite here. tchrist broadens your headline question, but also does give a few more verbs. But you could check individual ones yourself in a dictionary, if you're in doubt when writing.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 19:25
  • True, but you have double standards. I haven't checked you, but I can easily pick up questions answered by other erudite old-timers the answers to wich can easily be found elsewhere. Not to mention elementary questions such as one that asks the difference between "me" and "myself".
    – Centaurus
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 19:38

1 Answer 1

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No, you cannot just blindly change all ‑ise words into ‑ize words.

Beyond those you mention (which I notice includes ‑yse words, too, which can never be written ‑ize), there are also verbs like all these below which must always end in ‑ise, never in ‑ize.

I’ve conveniently sorted these right to left for you so that etymological hints pop out.

‪        precise
‪     circumcise
‪         incise
‪      subincise
‪      supercise
‪     eclaircise
‪        abscise
‪         excise
‪       paradise
‪     imparadise
‪     unparadise
‪    merchandise
‪           gise
‪      franchise
‪    affranchise
‪    effranchise
‪    enfranchise
‪ disenfranchise
‪   disfranchise
‪        coalise
‪           mise
‪         demise
‪       redemise
‪         remise
‪        premise
‪        promise
‪      unpromise
‪        surmise
‪   interdespise
‪           rise
‪          arise
‪        rearise
‪      hypocrise
‪        reprise
‪       comprise
‪        apprise
‪     enterprise
‪       forprise
‪     resurprise
‪         uprise
‪       decatise
‪       practise
‪     unpractise
‪         cotise
‪    readvertise
‪        mortise
‪       chastise
‪       readvise
‪      preadvise
‪      disadvise
‪      misadvise
‪         devise
‪       televise
‪        previse
‪      improvise
‪           wise
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  • 2
    Is this an "American Answer" or a "British Answer" ?
    – Centaurus
    Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 15:24
  • @Luis Mu. Neither. Both. Immaterial. Wrong question. Leading question. Unanswerablizable. I promize you that nobody speaking or writing English be it North American or Insular or Antipodean will ever advize you to improvize your zeeïfized verbz. If you cannot devize any rulez that make sense to you, you will simply have to start to look them up until you have uzed them enough to remember which iz which, something that comez onze you practize them more. Televized wordz don’t count; only written onez lead to orthographic paradize.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 15:32
  • @tchrist And yet, there's absolutely no problem reading and understanding what you've written in your comment. Crasy!
    – Frank
    Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 15:39
  • ......... precise?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 19:10
  • ... Ah, you're addressing the other question. 'Verbs' is mentioned both in the Headline question and the body text.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 19:26

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