mechanize

The word 'mechanize' is built upon the Greek root mēkhanē, which originally referred to a means, expedient, or contrivance, and specifically to a machine or engine of war. This root passed into Latin as machina and then into English as 'machine'. The suffix -ize, of Greek origin via Latin, is a prolific verb-forming element meaning "to render, make into, or subject to a process". Therefore, the literal construction of 'mechanize' is "to make into a machine" or "to subject to machinery". Over time, its meaning evolved from this core idea to specifically denote the process of replacing human or animal labor with mechanical power, first in industrial contexts and later in military modernization.

Structure: mechan (machine) + ize (verb suffix) mechan (from Greek mēkhanē, meaning "machine, device, contrivance") + ize (verb-forming suffix from Greek -izein, via Latin -izāre, indicating "to make, to become, to treat with").