quantize
|quan-tize|
🇺🇸
/ˈkwɑːn.taɪz/
🇬🇧
/ˈkwɒn.taɪz/
make discrete
Etymology
'quantize' is formed in modern English from the noun 'quantum' + the verb-forming suffix '-ize'. 'quantum' originates from Latin 'quantum' (neuter of 'quantus') meaning 'how great' or 'how much', and '-ize' comes from Greek '-izein' via Latin/French.
'quantize' developed in the 20th century as technical language in physics and engineering from the noun 'quantum' (Latin 'quantum'), which itself comes from Latin 'quantus' meaning 'how great'. The verb formation follows the English productive pattern of adding '-ize' to nouns to create verbs.
Initially tied closely to 'quantum' concepts in physics (discrete quanta), its sense broadened to mean 'make discrete' or 'convert to discrete levels' in signal processing, computing, and other technical fields.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Verb 1
to convert a continuous range of values into a finite set of discrete values (often by rounding or mapping), especially in signal processing, data compression, or digital representation.
Engineers quantize the analog signal to 8 bits for digital storage.
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Verb 2
in music production or sequencing, to adjust the timing of notes or events so they align with a fixed rhythmic grid (beats or subdivisions).
I quantize the MIDI track to the nearest 16th note to tighten the groove.
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Verb 3
to reduce the precision of numerical values by restricting them to a limited set of representable values for the purpose of simplification, storage, or computation (general mathematical/statistical use).
To speed up the model we quantize weights to lower-precision formats.
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Last updated: 2025/11/06 13:48