'occidentalize' originates from the English adjective 'occidental', ultimately from Latin 'occidens', combined with the verb-forming suffix '-ize' (from Greek '-izein' via Latin '-izare'), where 'occidens' meant 'west' and '-ize' meant 'to make or become.'

'occidental' changed from Latin 'occidens' (the present participle of Latin 'occidere', 'to fall or set', referring to the west), passed into Old French and Middle English as 'occidental', and in Modern English the suffix '-ize' was added to form 'occidentalize' and its past form 'occidentalized.'

Initially, 'occidental' meant 'of or relating to the west,' but with the addition of '-ize' the verb came to mean 'to make something Western' or 'to adapt to Western ways'; the adjective 'occidentalized' now commonly means 'made Western' or 'westernized.'