democratize

the word democratize is built upon the classical greek concept of 'dēmokratia', meaning 'rule by the people'. the greek elements 'dēmos' (common people) and '-kratia' (power, rule) were combined to describe a specific form of governance. entering english via french and latin, the noun 'democracy' was formed, and the productive verb-forming suffix '-ize' was later attached. this suffix, itself of greek origin, systematically creates verbs meaning 'to make or become like the root'. thus, democratize literally means 'to make characterized by the rule of the people', a sense which has expanded from purely political contexts to include making any resource or institution broadly accessible.

Structure: demo (people) + crat (rule, power) + ize (verb suffix) demo: from greek 'dēmos', meaning 'the common people, citizenry'. functions as the base meaning 'people'. crat: from greek '-kratēs' (ruler) or '-kratia' (rule, power), via latin and french. functions as the base meaning 'rule' or 'power'. ize: a verb-forming suffix of greek origin (via latin '-izare' and french '-iser'), meaning 'to make, to become, to subject to an action'.