'metabolize' originates from Neo-Latin/Modern English formation ultimately from Greek, specifically from the Greek word 'metabole' (from 'metaballein'), where 'meta-' meant 'change' and 'ballein' meant 'to throw'; the English verb was formed with the suffix '-ize' (from Greek '-izein').

'metabolize' changed from the noun 'metabolism' (from Greek 'metabole') with the addition of the verb-forming suffix '-ize' in English during the 19th century, becoming the modern verb 'metabolize'.

Initially, it meant 'change' in a general sense, but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'to undergo or cause to undergo the chemical processes of metabolism'.