Securitizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To convert assets into securities for investment purposes
2. To transform financial assets into secure investment instruments that can be traded
3. The process of pooling various types of debt and selling them as consolidated security instruments

Etymology: "Securitizes" is the third-person singular form of "securitize," which means to package financial assets such as loans or mortgages into tradeable securities. The verb is a recent formation: it is built from "security" in its financial sense of a tradeable asset, plus the suffix "-ize," which English took through Middle French and Late Latin from Ancient Greek "-izein." That suffix turns a noun into a verb meaning "to make into" or "to treat in the manner of," so the underlying idea is turning ordinary debts into something that can be sold on markets. The root word "security" is older and far more general. It comes from Latin "securitas," meaning freedom from care or danger, and the financial sense of a document representing a claim on property developed later than the general sense. The verb built on that financial sense is therefore a modern coinage layered onto an ancient suffix, so the word carries two long histories joined together in a single term.

Synonyms: financializes, monetizes, capitalizes, collateralizes, liquidates

Antonyms: debt, hold, retain, neglect, ignore