Securitizations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of converting assets into securities to sell them to investors
2. the act of creating financial securities from diverse assets like loans or mortgages
3. a financial practice involving the bundling of assets to enhance liquidity and attract capital

Etymology: The word is a plural, so it is the form of "securitization," a noun for the process of bundling assets such as loans or mortgages into tradable securities. That noun is built from "securitize," which took its shape from "security" in the financial sense of a tradable claim, with the verb-forming suffix "-ize" added, and then the suffix "-ation" was attached to turn the action into a noun. The "-ize" element has a long pedigree, passing from ancient Greek through Late Latin and Middle French before reaching English, where it became a productive way to make verbs. "-ation" likewise descends from Latin "-ātiō" through Old French. Put together, the pieces describe a process that turns something into a security, and the plural "securitizations" simply counts individual instances of that process.