'female-ization' originates from modern English, specifically formed from the noun 'female' + the suffix '-ization', where 'female' meant 'female, woman' and '-ization' denoted 'process or result of making'.

'female' in turn comes from Old French 'femelle', from Latin 'femella' (a diminutive of 'femina' meaning 'woman'). The suffix '-ization' ultimately derives from Greek/Latin verbal/adjectival formations filtered through French and later English productive suffixes, producing the modern English nominal suffix '-ization'.

Initially the root meant 'woman' or 'female'; combining it with the productive suffix '-ization' produced a derived noun meaning 'the process of making female' or 'becoming female', a formation that is more recent and somewhat nonstandard compared with the established term 'feminization'.