'metabolize' originates from Greek via modern scientific coinage, specifically from the Greek noun 'metabolē' meaning 'change' (from the verb 'metaballein'), where 'meta-' meant 'change' and 'ballein' meant 'to throw'.

'metabolē' in Greek passed into New Latin as 'metabolismus' and then into Modern Latin/English scientific vocabulary as 'metabolism' and the verb-form 'metabolize' (English formation in the 19th century), with the past forms like 'metabolized' following regular English conjugation.

Initially, the Greek root meant a general 'change' or 'transformation'; over time it came to denote the specific biological process of chemical change in living organisms, which is the current primary meaning.