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“s” vs. “z” in BE vs. AE
Are the endings “-zation” and “-sation” interchangeable?

I was asked on a translation assignment to use UK English but with -ize spelling.

What is the more widely used spelling in use in UK English?

What is the more correct form of using it: -ize or -ise?

You might like this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-ise.2C_-ize_.28-isation.2C_-ization.29

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Kris comment was really useful.

These helped a lot:

"s" vs. "z" in BE vs. AE

Are the endings "-zation" and "-sation" interchangeable?

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What is the most widely used spelling in use in UK English?

That would be "ise". See: Are the endings "-zation" and "-sation" interchangeable?

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  • The OED have regrettably accepted the spelling of words such as realise, specialise with a Z. Also ...isation, realisation etc. This, in my view is a pity, since Z is a letter that is rather foreign to the English language. The ...ise-ending derives from the old Norman-French ending, and provides a softness to English that is not present in the harder-sounding Saxon endings. Now we have this dreadful ...ize, ...ization ending. But the good news is that although the OED gives it head-word status, we don't actually have to use it.
    – user52780
    Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 7:14
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    Strangerbird, you are right. Maybe the reason for OED accepting it, is to show that it is an alternative used by certain people, speakers of American English. Using it in the UK or in the context of British things is not necessary because the "ise" spelling already exists.
    – Tristan
    Commented Sep 30, 2013 at 10:42
  • The explosion in the number of ...ize and ...ization word endings in the last 30 or 40 years I believe has been to do with the rapid expansion of new sciences, especially in the social and managerial sciences. These endings have become the 'de rigeur' method for changing adjectives into nouns and verbs e.g and 'the socialization of political ideology', 'a politicized workforce' etc. In accepting them some have regrettably accepted the Americanisms of realize and summarize. The idea, expressed by one contributor, that the 'z' represents a Greek influence, is I suspect hogwash.
    – user52780
    Commented Sep 30, 2013 at 13:02
  • Perhaps part of the reason is that non-Americans who adopt those spellings are just unaware of the difference between "ise" and "ize" or how to use them appropriately, therefore not even knowing that they are using Americanisms.
    – Tristan
    Commented Sep 30, 2013 at 13:36
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    @user52780 -ize has always been popular, even here in England and Oxford only recently started using the s, and only in certain contexts. Additionally, -ise and -ize are pronounced identically, with a voiced sound, so all the matter of s or z is is spelling. Noted English authors such as Tolkien used -ize.
    – Angelos
    Commented Jul 1, 2016 at 17:13

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