Etymology

privatization

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Today it means: The transfer of a company or organization from government to private ownership and control. Full definition →

German Privatisierung ← Latin prīvātus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromprīvātus“apart from the state; private”
  2. German · calque ofPrivatisierung
  3. English todayprivatization

Calque of German Privatisierung (with English -ation), derived from Latin prīvātus (“apart from the state; private”), with reference to post-First World War German economic principles. Popularized by Sidney Merlin in 1943, who was aware of the term reprivatization (used in similar contexts), already attested at the time.

Words from the same roots

Latinprīvātus all →

privateprivyprivado

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.