What does digitalizing mean?
Digitalizing is the present participle of the verb "digitalize," which primarily means converting information from an analog or physical format into a digital one — turning paper documents into scanned files, photographs into image data, or cassette recordings into computer-readable audio. The word is especially common in institutional contexts: libraries digitalizing archives, hospitals digitalizing patient records, and broadcasters digitalizing film collections all rely on this term. A second, much narrower sense belongs to medicine, where to digitalize a patient means to give them a drug derived from digitalis (foxglove), such as digoxin, to strengthen or steady the heartbeat. American spelling favors the -z- form, while British usage often prefers -s-, and the shorter synonym "digitize" has largely displaced "digitalize" in everyday computing language. The word's double life — spanning both office scanners and cardiology wards — traces back to a single Latin root, digitus, meaning finger.
verb (present participle and gerund)The present participle of "digitalize" (also spelled digitize): to convert information, images, sound, or documents into digital form that can be processed by a computer. In medicine, it also refers to administering a cardiac glycoside such as digitalis or digoxin to treat certain heart conditions.
- To convert analog information — text, images, audio, video, or paper records — into a digital format that computers can store and process.
- To administer digitalis (or a related drug such as digoxin) to a patient in order to strengthen heart contractions or regulate heartbeat.
"The library spent years digitalizing its collection of rare nineteenth-century manuscripts."
"The hospital finished digitalizing all of its patient records last spring."
"By gradually digitalizing the patient over several days, the cardiologist brought the atrial fibrillation under control."
Before it ever described scanning old photos, "digitalize" was what doctors did to heart patients — the word comes from the foxglove plant, digitalis, whose Latin name literally means "of the finger."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of digitalizing
Both senses of "digitalize" descend ultimately from the Latin digitus, meaning "finger" or "toe." The medical sense arose first: the drug came from Digitalis, the botanical name of the foxglove genus, so named because its flowers could be slipped over a fingertip. The computing sense developed later, built on "digital," as electronic technology made conversion to binary form routine. Related words sharing the root include "digit," "digital," and "prestidigitation," the latter referring to sleight of hand with the fingers.
Related word forms
How digitalizing is actually used
"Digitalizing" is the standard spelling in American English; British English more often uses "digitising," though both varieties increasingly prefer the shorter form "digitizing/digitising" for the computing sense. The -ise/-ize spelling follows the same variation as other verbs. The medical sense is technical and largely confined to clinical literature.
Easily confused with digitalizing
In computing it means converting information to digital form, while in cardiology it means treating a patient with digitalis-based drugs such as digoxin.