'vectorize' originates from the English word 'vector' (from Latin 'vector', from 'vehere' meaning 'to carry') combined with the suffix '-ize' (from Greek '-izein' via Latin '-izare', meaning 'to make or to become').

'vectorize' was formed in modern English by adding the productive suffix '-ize' to 'vector' (a Latin-derived word). The coinage likely dates to technological and scientific usage in the 19th–20th century as computing, graphics, and mathematical terminology developed.

Initially, 'vector' meant 'carrier' (in Latin), and the verb formation originally meant 'to make or express as a vector'; over time it came to be used specifically for converting images to vector graphics, representing data as vectors in computing and ML, and (more rarely) inserting material into biological vectors.