Occidentalised

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. The phrase indicates the transition of cultures from non-Western to Western characteristics and practices, reflecting a change in traditions and societal values towards Western norms
2. Changed to adopt Western habits, customs, or ways of thinking
3. Transformed to reflect Western culture, practices, or viewpoints

Etymology: "Occidentalised" is the past form of "occidentalise", so its history runs through that verb. The verb is built from "occidental", which comes from Latin "occidentalis", meaning "western", from "occidens", the setting sun or the west, itself from "occidere", to fall down or set. The ancient Romans thus named the west after the place where the sun went down, and the same image sits behind the word in English. The "-ise" ending adds the sense of making something conform to a condition or type, so to occidentalise a thing is to make it take on Western ways. Most English words in this family arrived through French or Latin scholarship, and "occidentalise" follows the pattern of many verbs formed from a descriptive adjective plus this suffix.