medize means to side with the Persians; to be loyal to the Persian Empire rather than Greeks. It carries an Arena rating of 1267, earned across 54 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, medize ranks #425 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #1,074 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,520 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #4,365 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
Why “medize” is a great word
MEDIZE — [Verb] To forsake the Greek cause and side with or show loyalty to the Persian Empire. From the Ancient Greek μηδίζω (mēdízō, "to side with the Medes"), from Μῆδος (Mēdos, "a Mede, Persian") + -ίζω (-ízō, verb-forming suffix). Unlike "Hellenize," which denotes the adoption of Greek culture, or "collaborate," a broad and anachronistic term, to medize was a specific, treasonous political choice within the crucible of the Greco-Persian Wars. It is the deliberate offering of earth and water to a satrap’s envoy, the weight of Persian darics in a traitor’s palm, and the sight of Theban shields turning against Spartan kin at Plataea—a word for the ancient, treacherous calculus of realpolitik, a quiet vote for a different order when the world was defining itself.
Etymology
From the Ancient Greek verb μηδίζω (mēdízō, literally “side with the Medes”), corresponding to Mede + -ize.
verb
- To side with the Persians; to be loyal to the Persian Empire rather than Greeks.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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