Snoop Dogg made a whole language out of it — adding –izzle to just about anything. Of course there are “real” –izzle words, like sizzle, swizzle, and grizzle, but what about those you may not have heard of? Here we take a look at six of our favorites.
mizzle
Today’s word of the day means to drizzle or “rain in very fine drops,” as well as to succumb, become tipsy, confuse, and to disappear suddenly. The rain meaning is the oldest, from the 15th century, says the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and may come from the Middle Dutch misel, “drizzling rain.”
The meaning “to confuse” is from the 16th century and may come from mizmaze, a labyrinth or maze. Mizzle gained its “disappear suddenly” meaning in the 1770s. The OED says it might come from misli, a word from Shelta meaning “to go,” or that misli might come from mizzle. In other words, we don’t know.
By the way, to mizzle one’s dick is a nautical phrase that means “to miss one’s passage.”
pizzle
A pizzle refers to “the penis of an animal, especially a bull” or “a whip made from a bull’s penis.” This is a 15th century word that is now chiefly used in Australia and New Zealand, according to the OED, and ultimately comes from the Old Dutch pisa, “sinew, string, fibre.”
In the early 1900s, the word also became slang for a man’s penis.
rumswizzle
This awesome word is “a cloth made in Ireland from pure wool undyed, and valuable because of its power of repelling moisture.”
Unfortunately its origin is unknown. It may come from the cant meaning of rum, “good or fine,” and swizzle could be a play on frieze, “a thick and warm woolen cloth used for rough outer garments since the fourteenth century,” although that could be a stretch.
Predictably the word has been appropriated as the name of a drink.
frizzle
The earliest meaning of frizzle is “to curl or crisp, as hair,” from which comes the newer and more common frizz. Frizzle also refers to “a ribbed steel plate forming part of a gunlock, to receive the blow of the hammer,” and “to fry (something) [like bacon] until crisp and curled.”
The word could be a blend of fry and sizzle, and may be related to Old Frisian frisle, “head of the hair, lock of hair.”
crizzle
Crizzle means “to become wrinkled or rough on the surface, as glass, the skin, etc.,” as well as “a roughness on the surface of glass which clouds its transparency.” The origin isn’t certain but the OED says it may be a diminutive of craze. The French crisser means to crunch or scrunch.
twizzle
To twizzle means to roll and twist, and may be a blend of twist and twistle. In case you were wondering, the word came first, then the candy: the OED’s earliest citation of twizzle is from 1825 while Twizzlers candy came out in 1845.
Want more -izzle? Gizoogle that shizzle.
[Photo: “a walk in to the woods,” CC BY 2.0 by Vinoth Chandar]
[Photo: “Bacon,” CC BY 2.0 by cookbookman17]