Vernacularizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Changing or adapting language, expressions, or terms to match the everyday speech of a particular region or group
2. Transforming formal or foreign words and phrases into a form that fits common local usage
3. Modifying language so it reflects the native or common dialect of a specific community

Etymology: "Vernacularizing" is the present participle of "vernacularize", which is formed from "vernacular" and the suffix "-ize". The root "vernacular" comes from Latin "vernaculus", meaning "domestic" or "native", and was derived from "verna", a home-born slave. The Latin word thus carried the sense of something belonging to the household rather than to the wider world, and English later applied it to the everyday speech of a people as opposed to formal or learned languages. The suffix "-ize" comes from Greek "-izein", used to form verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in a certain way". Joining it to "vernacular" produces a verb meaning to make something vernacular, or to render text, speech, or practice in local everyday language. The sense "adapting to dialects", which the participle carries here, follows from this: a text or service that is vernacularized is shaped to fit the speech of a particular community.

Synonyms: localizing, dialectalizing